Popular new Japan PM may seek general election
( 2001-04-30 13:58 ) (7 )

Opinion polls showed record support for Japan's new prime minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday, fuelling speculation that he may dissolve the Lower House and hold an early general election in July.

Major dailies and television stations carried the survey results as their top stories, all of them showing Koizumi's support at a record high of around 80 percent, in line with similar results of polls released on Sunday.

The previous record high for an incoming prime minister dates back to Morihiro Hosokawa, who took office in 1993 amid similar demands for reform, with around 70 percent support.

Koizumi and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) face crucial elections for parliament's Upper House in July.

The Asahi Shimbun daily survey showed voters were willing to vote for the LDP in July over the main opposition, the Democratic Party, with 49 percent of respondents saying they wanted the LDP to win the Upper House elections. Only 26 percent said they hoped for an opposition Democratic Party victory.

An earlier Asahi survey in April pointed the other way, with 41 percent of respondents seeking a opposition win and only 29 percent looking for an LDP victory.

The Asahi said Koizumi's aides were mulling dissolving the parliament's more powerful chamber, the Lower House.

"With such high support ratings, if you follow common sense, then it would be a same-day election," the paper quoted a senior LDP official as saying.

ASTUTE MOVE OR POLITICAL GAMBLE

Lower House elections were held in June last year, and no election need be held until the summer of 2003, but the prime minister has the right to dissolve the chamber at anytime.

But Koizumi's coalition partners may well disagree.

The head of the New Komeito Party, the LDP's main partner in the three-way coalition, hinted as much on Sunday.

"At the moment when there is uncertainty of the economy, we need to manage the economy without any breaks. There should not be a political vacuum," Takenori Kanzaki told a news programme on Fuji Television.

Chikage Ogi, head of the New Conservative Party, the junior partner in the coalition, also sounded cautious. "There is no proof we can win both houses if we do them at once," she told the same programme.

The public opinion polls suggested a July general election may be a political gamble for Koizumi, showing that voters appeared to be sceptical of his ability to carry out reforms.

The Asahi survey showed that 56 percent of respondents believed that Koizumi's popularity was not based on his abilities. Only 23 percent said it was backed by his abilities.

Koizumi has repeatedly said he will not shy away from the painful reforms needed to revive Japan's enfeebled economy, the world's second-largest, mired in a decade of stop-go growth.

The surveys, carried out only a few days after the party chose Koizumi as prime minister, contrast sharply with the single-digit support rating of his predecessor, Yoshiro Mori.

Mori's support plummeted in the last few months of his tenure, prompting leaders in the ruling coalition to ditch him, fearful of doing badly in the July Upper House elections.

Koizumi, 59, who transformed his reputation as an eccentric into a strong image as a popular reformer and garnered widespread rank-and-file support, won the party election to succeed him.

Koizumi was modest on Sunday about his high support ratings. "I'm very grateful. But from on, the only way is down," he told reporters.