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Koizumi may retire next September
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-23 06:15

The representative of the ruling party usually becomes prime minister because the post is chosen by a vote in parliament.

The LDP insists that the election is a referendum on privatizing Japan Post, a giant financial institution with more than US$3 trillion in assets.

The LDP has tapped a string of celebrity candidates, who have been labelled assassins, to run against party rebels and woo unaffiliated voters who have been key to recent elections.

Prominent among them are Takafumi Horie, a 32-year-old maverick CEO and founder of high-flying Internet portal Livedoor Co, and Yuriko Koike, a former television anchorwoman and now environment minister.

The LDP's celebrity tactic has sparked some criticism. Opposition Democratic Party leader Katsuya Okada, however, said fixing Japan's pension system, creaking due to a falling birth rate and ageing population, should be the top priority.

"For those who think the current pension system isn't working, we want you to vote for the Democratic Party and let us carry through pension reforms under a Democratic administration," Okada said in a campaign speech in Ibaraki, north of Tokyo.


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