With a month to go before the Aug. 30 election, the Democratic Party of Japan unveiled its campaign platform July 28, featuring five main principles centering on a government led by politicians rather than bureaucrats.

DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama unveils his party's campaign manifesto in Tokyo on July 28. KYODO PHOTO

The platform includes five main promises, including a complete review of the budget, a ban on the amakudari custom of giving retired senior bureaucrats jobs in industries they previously oversaw and creating a monthly allowance for families of ¥26,000 per child starting in 2011, a year earlier than originally planned.

"We are at a historical turning point," DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama said in announcing the manifesto.

"Our single most important goal is to bring people back to the center of politics," he said, stressing the need to reform the bureaucracy-oriented politics.

The DPJ is riding high in opinion polls and faces a very real chance of unseating the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito coalition.

The DPJ's platform is broken down into five categories: elimination of wasteful use of taxpayers' money; child-rearing and education; pensions and medical care; local autonomy; and employment and economy.

Pledges include providing income support for households engaged in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, establishing toll-free highways and re-examining postal services, all intended to bring "livelihood" back to rural communities.

The platform promises a complete review of the budget to cut waste as a way to secure resources to finance the party's measures.