Japanese Parliament to re-elect Prime Minister Koizumi in special session

Japan's Parliament convened Wednesday to re-elect Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi following his ruling coalition's landslide victory in elections last week.

The Cabinet resigned en masse earlier Wednesday to pave the way for the convening of Parliament and the prime ministerial election a formality since the coalition has majorities in both houses.

Koizumi was expected to reappoint the same Cabinet later in the day, and then begin the push for approval of his closely watched plan to privatize Japan's sprawling postal service.

Media reports say the government will submit its privatization proposal to Parliament next week, aiming for a vote in mid-October and a Cabinet reshuffle in November.

The renewal of the government came as a newspaper poll published Wednesday showed Koizumi's Cabinet with a 62 percent support rating, up 14.3 percentage points from a previous survey in August.

The Yomiuri newspaper survey of 1,825 eligible voters over the weekend also showed disapproval of the government dropping 10.0 percentage points to 29.9 percent. The poll provided no margin of error, reports the AP.