A showdown has begun for the Sept. 11 House of Representatives election, a poll that may witness a drastic change in the political landscape.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, however, appears bent on breaking up the Liberal Democratic Party, which he heads, and endangering its hold on power by purging all LDP Lower House members who opposed his postal privatization project.

Here are some basic questions and answers about what is going on in the LDP and the prospects for the election: