Since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called for a general election on Sept. 11 less than a fortnight ago, two political parties have been started up by former members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, with talks that one or two more could be set up before voters go to the polls.

In addition, the upcoming election is attracting a slew of first-time contenders who are hoping to launch their political careers at the upcoming Lower House elections.

Over the weekend, the popular and media-savvy governor of Nagano prefecture, Yasuo Tanaka, officially launched his own party, Shinto Nippon (New Japan Party) together with four Diet members including Koki Kobayashi and Takashi Aoyama and Makoto Taki of the Lower House, and Hiroyuki Arai of the Upper House, all of the LDP.

The party does, however, need one more elected member of the Diet to qualify as an independent party to run in the upcoming election.

Meanwhile, the previous week saw the founding of the Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party), with five prominent LDP members, including the party's former policy chief Shizuka Kamei and former speaker of the Lower House Tamisuke Watanuki.

Apart from having LDP members at their core, the two parties also share the fact that they are both opposed to Koizumi's proposal to privatize the postal system, which was the reason for the prime minister to call a snap election in the first place.

Oddly enough, Koizumi made no bones about wanting to privatize the postal system worth $3.6 trillion in savings and insurance assets even before he took office in April 2001, as he did the national road system.

Yet while efforts to privatize Japan's mammoth transport network have faltered, he appeared to have been gaining ground in rallying voters to support his plan for the postal system, which if made independent will be the single-biggest financial institution in the world in terms of asset value.

The problem was that many of the LDP's old guard, especially from the rural areas which will be more directly affected by the plans than the urban areas, have continued to oppose the proposal thus widening the divide within Japan's biggest and longest-established party which has effectively ruled the country since the end of World War II with only a few years' gap over the past five decades.

Those LDP members who have opposed Koizumi's postal privatization plans have appealed to their constituents that they oppose government policies that will give less power and clout to the provinces.

For his part, Koizumi made clear that he would not put up with those within his own party who oppose his privatization plan, and of the 249 LDP members who were voted in to the Lower House at the last election, 37 have been told they will not be able to run as party members on Sept. 11, thereby forcing them to join one of the newly-founded parties or another existing parties, or run as independent candidates.

Still, New Nippon's Tanaka endeavored to promote his party as one that will not be bullied by the central government, and not simply a party that is opposed to Koizumi's public policy.

"We have gathered with a strong determination to save Japan and to protect the public and change the mind-set in Kasumigaseki," Tanaka said at a news conference announcing the formation of the new party Sunday. Kasumigaseki is the area in Tokyo where central government ministries are located.

Party politics, however, is not the only reason why the upcoming election is viewed by many analysts as one of the most important, if not the most critical, election in Japan since the end of World War II.

The election has caught the imagination of often-apolitical voters as well, as it has already attracted a record number of first-time candidates to stand for office for all parties, including Internet mogul Takafumi Horie.

The 32-year-old chief executive of Livedoor, who is a celebrity in his own right and featured at one time in a popular television game show, was courted by the LDP to stand against Kamei of the Kokumin Shinton in the Hiroshima district in southern Japan.

In addition, at least 20 government bureaucrats in their late thirties to mid-fifties have declared their candidacies with either the LDP or the principal opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan at a time when a government position is seen as one of the most stable jobs available.

On the other hand, the outlook for any political party has never been as murky, even for the LDP, as voters and officials from parties grapple with new political entities and alliances.

Local daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported last week that at least 1,033 people have now officially declared their candidacy, with the average age of an aspiring representative falling to 50.6 years from 51 years in the 2003 election.

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