TOKYO, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Japan's Diet re-elected Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister Wednesday at a special session that is also expected to push through his postal privatization plan.
Koizumi's re-election follows his Liberal Democratic Party's landslide victory in the Sept. 11 lower house election.
The 42-day special Diet session will run through Nov. 1, during which time Koizumi's postal privatization bills will be resubmitted and will most likely be passed on the strength of the LDP and its junior coalition partner, the New Komeito Party, the Asahi Shimbun reported Wednesday.
Koizumi was to launch his third Cabinet later in the day by reappointing all 17 members of his second Cabinet.
After submitting the postal privatization bills next week, the government and the ruling parties are expected to start deliberations in the lower house around Oct. 4. They intend to pass the bills in the middle of October.
The starting and completion dates of the plan will be pushed back by six months from April 2007 and March 2017, respectively.
