Postal rebel Mitsuo Horiuchi KYODO PHOTO

The LDP has decided to convene a meeting of the Party Ethics Committee Dec. 4 to formalize the comeback of the independent lawmakers, who former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi purged last year for opposing his postal privatization agenda.

Sanae Takaichi, minister in charge of Okinawa, Northern Territories, gender and various other issues, said after the Cabinet meeting that approval ratings will fall for the LDP after the postal rebels are readmitted.

She won a seat in the House of Representatives election in September 2005 in a constituency previously held by one of the rebels.

The business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Nov. 28 Abe's approval rating dropped 9 percentage points from October to 59 percent, and that 57 percent of respondents to its public opinion poll opposed the readmission of the rebels.

Among ministers who supported Abe's decision, some were hesitant to laud the move.

Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshihide Suga said he cannot but accept the decision "as the party has made it."

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said, "As (the postal rebels) have changed their minds to support postal privatization, their presence must no longer be an obstacle for the prime minister to advance reform."

The Japan Times Weekly: Dec. 2, 2006
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