After a tumultuous period in office since last September, Prime Minister Taro Aso finally dissolved the Lower House July 21 for a general election.

Prime Minister Taro Aso leads a banzai cheer after the dissolution of the Lower House at its plenary session July 21 in preparation for a general election Aug. 30. KYODO PHOTO

The House of Representatives was dissolved at its plenary session in the afternoon, after which his Cabinet agreed to hold the election Aug. 30, with official campaigning set to begin Aug. 18.

The general election will be the first since September 2005, when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi helped the LDP secure more than 300 seats in the 480-seat chamber by making postal privatization the most contentious issue in the campaign.

In campaigning set to effectively start July 21, Aso is expected to play up what he has accomplished in the past 10 months, including a set of economic steps, while Democratic Party of Japan President Yukio Hatoyama will likely accuse Aso of depending too much on bureaucrats, which he claims has resulted in wasteful spending.

LDP Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda indicated at a news conference that the victory or defeat bar in the election will be whether the ruling coalition of the LDP and the New Komeito party can win a combined majority in the powerful Lower House that comprises 300 seats in single-seat districts and 180 under the proportional-representation system.

But many analysts predict that the LDP, which has ruled Japan almost uninterruptedly for more than 50 years, is unlikely to rack up a majority and rather be heavily defeated by the DPJ in the election, citing lack of leadership by Aso, his policy flip-flops and the recent disarray in his party.