Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi suggested Tuesday he may dissolve the House of Representatives next month because holding simultaneous Lower and Upper House elections in summer "is not a good idea."
With Koizumi's re-election in Saturday's Liberal Democratic Party presidential race all but certain, political attention has shifted to whether Koizumi will dissolve the Lower House in October, as most Diet members expect.
The Upper House is scheduled to hold its triennial election in June, and a Lower House election must be held by that time, before members' four-year terms expire.