Japan's New Prime Minister to Call Snap Election

Japan's next prime minister will call a general election within days of taking office in an attempt to capitalize on an expected jump in support after the ruling party elects a new leader on Monday.

The new premier, widely expected to Taro Aso, a former foreign minister, will dissolve parliament on October 3 and call an election for October 26, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said today, quoting unnamed government sources.

The election will be the first since the Liberal Democratic Party [LDP], led by Junichiro Koizumi, won a landslide in 2005.

The next prime minister will be the third in a row to take office without a popular mandate. Koizumi's successor, Shinzo Abe, stepped down a year ago due to poor health and his replacement, Yasuo Fukuda, announced his surprise resignation earlier this month.

The LDP's huge majority in the lower house means its next leader is assured of becoming prime minister when parliament resumes next Wednesday.

Many observers had expected the new leader to wait until parliament had passed an emergency budget to shore up the economy before calling an election later in the year.

But a senior LDP official told the Asahi that the party would seek to take advantage of an expected honeymoon period in the wake of the leadership contest. "The economy will deteriorate sooner or later, so the earlier the election is held the better," he said.

The LDP, rocked by mounting economic worries, policy deadlock and a costly pensions data mix-up, faces one of its toughest general elections in recent memory. The Democratic party of Japan, the main opposition, is unlikely to win an outright majority, but it is expected to capitalize on the ruling coalition's unpopularity and make inroads into its two-thirds majority.

With just three days left until the leadership election, Aso, a rightwing populist, has a commanding lead over his four rivals.

A Kyodo news agency poll this week said he had the support of just over 50.7% of LDP members, well ahead of Yuriko Koike, a former defence minister whose hopes of becoming Japan's first female prime minister are fading fast.

In Monday's leadership contest, the five candidates will seek an overall majority from among 528 votes cast by LDP Diet members and local party chapters. Aso, 67, is expected to secure victory in the first round of voting.