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Japanese PM says he will quit if his party loses elections
Tokyo, Oct 26: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he`ll quit as the country`s leader if his party loses national elections scheduled for next month.
Tokyo, Oct 26: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi said he'll quit as the country's leader if his party
loses national elections scheduled for next month.
"If we lose, I'll resign," Koizumi said at a
campaign stop in the Tokyo suburb of Kamagaya yesterday,
according to local media.
"This election is about whether we should destroy the fruits of reform."
But Koizumi, who became Prime Minister in April 2001 with promises to revive the economy and shake-up Japanese politics, didn't say how he would define a "loss" in the November 09 poll, the Asahi newspaper reported today.
Earlier this month, Koizumi said his Liberal Democratic Party would have to win a majority of the 480 seats up for grabs in order to declare victory.
But since Koizumi governs with a three-party coalition that is almost guaranteed to win a majority, he could stay on as prime minister even if the LDP failed to attain more than half the seats in parliament.
The LDP currently has 244 seats in the lower house, and the three-party coalition it heads controls 285 seats. The largest opposition group, the Democratic Party, has 137 seats.
Opinion polls show that while Koizumi remains popular with the public, only about a third of all voters say they will vote for an LDP candidate in their district. Some 40 percent of voters are undecided, polls in the Asahi and the Yomiuri Shimbun last week showed.
Bureau Report
"This election is about whether we should destroy the fruits of reform."
But Koizumi, who became Prime Minister in April 2001 with promises to revive the economy and shake-up Japanese politics, didn't say how he would define a "loss" in the November 09 poll, the Asahi newspaper reported today.
Earlier this month, Koizumi said his Liberal Democratic Party would have to win a majority of the 480 seats up for grabs in order to declare victory.
But since Koizumi governs with a three-party coalition that is almost guaranteed to win a majority, he could stay on as prime minister even if the LDP failed to attain more than half the seats in parliament.
The LDP currently has 244 seats in the lower house, and the three-party coalition it heads controls 285 seats. The largest opposition group, the Democratic Party, has 137 seats.
Opinion polls show that while Koizumi remains popular with the public, only about a third of all voters say they will vote for an LDP candidate in their district. Some 40 percent of voters are undecided, polls in the Asahi and the Yomiuri Shimbun last week showed.
Bureau Report