Victorious Koizumi firms ups reform plans

TOKYO, Japan -- Japan's triumphant prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, is preparing to convert the mandate from his ruling coalition's huge election victory into concrete reforms of an economy sliding into recession.

Koizumi needed a sound win in Sunday's upper house election to survive challenges to his leadership and to his proposals to rein in Japan's massive public debt and clean up a banking system weighed down with bad loans.

"We fared better than I expected," an unshaven, weary Koizumi, 59, said in a television interview after his long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its partners had locked up more than half the 121 seats at stake in the 247-seat Upper House.

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The ruling coalition won 78 seats, according to public broadcaster NHK. Its total in the upper chamber now stands at 139, including seats that were not up for grabs.

The vote was the first nationwide test of whether Koizumi's popularity would translate into electoral victory for the LDP and its two coalition partners, and whether he would get a mandate for economic reform.

The LDP and its partners, the Buddhist-backed New Komeito Party and the small New Conservative Party, needed to win 63 seats of the 121 up for grabs to maintain a majority. In the final result, the coalition gained 78 of the seats.

Koizumi also reiterated his commitment to structural reforms, and he invited the opposition parties to join him in his effort to remake the Japanese economy.

The vote was widely seen as a referendum on Koizumi's proposed economic reforms. The prime minister's spectacular popularity had been expected to power the coalition to victory.

Despite high interest in the election, turnout late Sunday was running slightly lower than the last upper house election in 1998. The government said that as of 7:30 p.m. Sunday, 47.2 percent of nearly 102 million eligible voters had cast ballots -- down from 50.8 percent at the same time in the 1998 poll.

At stake were Koizumi's plans to slash funding of costly public works projects, clean up the bad debts hobbling the financial system and put in place other structural reforms to propel the economy out of its 11-year downturn.

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"We've been putting off reform for too long in this country, and now we're paying the price," said Kenji Masuyama, a 20-year-old university student. "We need somebody willing to do something drastic."

Since Koizumi assumed office in April, there has been resistance to his proposals not only from the opposition but from conservative factions within his own party as well. During his campaign, the leader -- never one to mince words -- suggested that he would rather split the LDP than bend to anti-reformists within the party.

While Koizumi has support ratings of about 70 percent, concerns are rising that his proposals could result at first in more unemployment and stymied growth. The jobless rate is already at a record 4.9 percent, and the stock market hit a 16-year low in the past week.

Koizumi opponents are worried that his party will do little to protect laid-off workers from the inevitable strain of corporate restructuring.

"I don't think the LDP is looking out for the welfare of people in this country," said Reiko Ohara, a 51-year-old employee of an industry organization who said she voted for the Japan Communist Party. Communists account for only a small fraction of Parliament.

Even for those who support the reforms, there is some doubt about whether Koizumi will be able to cobble together enough support within the LDP -- a bastion of the public works spending the prime minister wants to cut -- to actually implement his ideas.

Throughout the campaign, the opposition found itself struggling to divert public attention from the rakishly handsome, lion-maned prime minister.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.