TOKYO, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Monday called for elections on Sept. 11 after lawmakers voted down his postal privatization bill.
The House of Councilors rejected the controversial postal privatization bill during a plenary session Monday afternoon. Of the 233 upper house members present at the session, 108 voted for the measure and 125 opposed it.
Koizumi then decided to dissolve the lower house and call for general elections, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Monday.
Koizumi told Liberal Democratic Party leaders in an emergency meeting that the party would not endorse 37 members of the party who voted against the bill, but would field new candidates in their constituencies. The official election campaign will begin Aug. 30.
The prime minister had aimed to privatize Japan Post, a public corporation with $3.1 trillion in assets, that runs mail delivery, savings and life insurance. The sale was part of a plan to trim government spending and slow the expansion of the world's largest public debt.
Japan Post is the nation's largest employer, with some 400,000 workers. Opponents of the plan said the sale would bring job losses and post office closures.
