Cheat Sheet: Japans Elections

Why are we talking about elections in Japan?

This is not your usual stolid Japanese election. Junichiro Koizumi, Japans prime minister and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), dissolved Japans lower house of parliament and purged dissenting members of his own party after they failed to ratify his plan to privatize Japans postal service. With his detractors out of the picture, he then called a snap election, counting on Japanese voters to back his reform efforts and help him push through his plan for Japan Post. Koizumi took a risk in opening himself up to an election when his partys control of the parliamentcalled the Dietis especially weak. Japan watchers hailed it as an opportunity for a second party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), to pry control of parliament from the LDP, which has been in power for almost 50 years.

All this fuss about a postal service?

Japan Post doesnt just deliver the mail. With $3 trillion in assets, the post is the worlds largest financial institution, and it provides low-risk, low-return savings accounts and life insurance for hundreds of thousands of Japanese. Reformers see the 260,000-employee institution as a weight around the neck of an already bloated Japanese civil service. Koizumi hopes that privatizing the postal service will make the government more efficient by eliminating cronyism and extra workers, which will help the economy in the long run. But champions of the system say that it is part of the fabric of Japanese culturean institution deeply valued by the communities that use it, especially in rural areas with fewer social services.

Whats at stake?

A win or a loss for the LDP will shake up the Japanese political system. Victory for the LDP will translate into privatization of the post, which in turn would mean that the LDP would effectively slash its own funding by eliminating its access to Japan Posts huge assets, which party operatives use like a slush fund for pet projects. The Japanese government is often criticized for being more responsive to the needs of businesses than to those of the voters. Without access to cash, government would have less incentive to be cozy with big business, and freer to address the needs of voters. An LDP loss would bring an end to nearly 50 years of the partys rule and offer the DPJ a chance to steer Japan in a different direction. After decades of LDP government, some voters feel that nothing will change in Japan until there is a stronger opposition party.

What are the party platforms?

Both parties are running on platforms of reform. Koizumi called the election to push for postal service reform, but the DPJ is also pushing a broad reform agenda. The DPJ and its leader, Katsuya Okada, want to put the Japanese government on a diet, calling for huge spending and personnel cuts in the civil service. Okada wants to delegate power to regional governments, away from a federal bureaucracy he sees as corrupt and plagued by cronyism. On foreign policy, the DPJ has been critical of Koizumis relationship with U.S. President George W. Bush and the Japanese involvement in Iraq. The party would like to bring Japanese troops home.

While Koizumis campaign may be too single-minded for some, the size of the postal service makes its reform no small taskand the potential ripple effects for the governments efficiency equally large. If he gets his way, Koizumi will split the post into four companies by 2007 and privatize the banking and insurance concerns by 2017.

Who are the assassins?

The assassins are a group of newly appointed, high-profile female candidates whom Koizumi has chosen to take on ex-LDP party members who defected from the party in protest to his privatization plan. In the traditionally male-dominated LDP, the sudden inclusion of 26 women is unprecedented. Because the LDP is defending such a small margin, Koizumi is borrowing his candidates well-known names and faces to burnish his campaigneven though many of the assassins have little political experience to take to the stump. Koizumis team includes a former TV anchorwoman, a celebrity chef, and a former Miss Tokyo University. The women have helped Koizumi steal the spotlight from the DPJ and portray the LDP dissenters as a bunch of stodgy old men. Koizumi is clearly hoping to bring new blood into the stagnant world of LDP politics, but critics say his newest ploy cheapens the serious business of government.