"This election is about postal privatization: Are you for it or are you going to oppose it?"

Facing opposition to privatization from his own party, he made loyalty to postal privatization a prerequisite for winning a post in the cabinet shuffle.

He declared the election to be a referendum on postal privatization.

Even Washington, which has been pushing hard for changes in the Japanese financial system, is treading lightly on postal privatization.

During the 12-day campaign, Mr. Koizumi focused exclusively and extremely effectively on postal privatization.

"The Parliament's judgment was that there is no need for postal privatization," an angry Mr. Koizumi said at an evening news conference.

Mr. Koizumi said that only supporters of postal privatization would run on the party's ticket.

However, when he failed to support postal privatization, the leaders of his party, the Liberal Democratic Party, refused to support his 2005 campaign.

However, during the 2005 elections, he faced opposition from his party after he failed to support postal privatization.

He was critical of Junichiro Koizumi's policies and postal privatization.