The political situation in Japan is heating up amid growing speculation that the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership contest in September will open the way for a general election. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who is also president of the LDP, is already openly challenging his rivals in the party, while both the ruling and opposition camps are clearing the decks for the big battle that looms.
Members of the LDP's mainstream factions provide the following scenario: The party will hold its presidential election on Sept. 20; later that month an extraordinary Diet session will be convened to pass a bill extending the 2001 counterterrorism law, which expires Nov. 1; following the bill's passage, the Lower House will be dissolved for a general election in early November.
Whether things will develop along these lines remains to be seen, but speculation appears to be feeding on itself. The worry is that the election talk is beginning to distract Lower House members from their legislative duties. There are still nearly two weeks left before the regular Diet session adjourns on July 28. The Upper House, meanwhile, is debating a controversial bill to send Self-Defense Forces units to Iraq for humanitarian and reconstruction assistance.