Ruling and opposition leaders traveled to various parts of the country Saturday to seek public support ahead of the Sept. 11 general election.

"The biggest question at stake in the election is whether or not to support the privatization of postal services," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said in a speech in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture. "I resorted to dissolving the House of Representatives in the belief that a majority of the public would judge that privatization is necessary."

Koizumi heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in major turmoil over postal reform, the centerpiece of Koizumi's reform drive.