Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Thursday he was getting good vibes from voters ahead of this month's election but wasn't sure how many seats his coalition could win, despite a hefty lead in opinion polls.
Koizumi called the September 11 poll after rebels in his long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) joined the opposition last month to vote down bills to privatise the postal system, a huge organisation with $3 trillion in assets.
"The response is very good, although I'm not sure whether this will actually translate into votes," a weary-looking Koizumi told reporters in a group interview two days after the start of the official campaign. "It's hard to say how many seats this will lead to," he said.
Koizumi, who has called the election a referendum on postal privatisation, said he thought voters welcomed the clear choice. "An easy-to-understand topic of whether you are for or against postal privatisation has been set as the issue of the election.
"It's clearly an environment that makes it easy to choose," said Koizumi, looking casual in grey slacks and blue shirt with no neck-tie.
An opinion poll published on Thursday showed that Koizumi's LDP has widened its lead over its main opposition rival, the Democratic Party.
Koizumi denied his focus on postal privatisation meant he was ignoring other key issues, such as whether to extend Japanese troops' stay in Iraq beyond December and controversy over his visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, where convicted war criminals are honoured with Japan's war dead.
His annual shrine visits have chilled ties with China and South Korea, but he has yet to go this year. "On such issues, my record over the past four years is being put to the test, so I would like you to look at that and make a comprehensive judgement," he said.
Koizumi's risky and dramatic decision to call an election and send candidates to stand against LDP rebels seems to have resonated with voters even in urban areas, where the Democratic Party has tended to be strong, a poll of about 1,000 voters by the daily Asahi Shimbun showed.
According to the poll conducted on August 29 and 30 - the day campaigning began - 34 percent of respondents said they supported the LDP while just 13 percent opted for the Democrats.
Forty percent of respondents said they were undecided.