Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved the House of Representatives on Monday and called a general election for Sept. 11 a few hours after the House of Councilors voted down the government-sponsored postal privatization bills.
The unprecedented move by a prime minister to dissolve the Lower House because the Upper House rejected legislation that had already cleared the more powerful chamber threw the Diet into chaos.
The postal privatization bills -- the linchpin of Koizumi's reform drive -- failed by a vote of 125 to 108 in the 242-seat Upper House, with 22 lawmakers from the Liberal Democratic Party, which Koizumi heads, joining the opposition camp to vote no and eight other LDP members either abstained or were absent. Upper House President Chikage Ogi did not vote.