Former health minister Junichiro Koizumi and former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto began shaping their campaign policies Wednesday in the runup to the April 24 Liberal Democratic Party election.
Koizumi made promises to to restrain government bond issues while Hashimoto hinted he would ease back on his pursuit of fiscal austerity policies.
Various factions in the party, which will begin accepting candidates for the presidential election this morning, are jockeying to field possible successors to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who is the current president.