Japanese PM to resign next year
Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi today said he will step down in September 2006 at the end of his term as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, even if the ruling coalition wins a majority in the forthcoming elections.
Earlier this month, Koizumi dissolved the lower house of Parliament and called elections after rebels in his own party helped the upper house reject legislation to privatise the postal service, the centrepiece of the premier’s reformist program.
