Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is changing the face of election campaigns, and one place this is being felt is the Liberal Democratic Party's Kyoto prefectural chapter, which traditionally has been the LDP's nerve center for local candidates.
In past elections, local LDP candidates stressed their emotional and economic ties with their constituencies, and were vague in terms of adhering to the party's national-level policy platforms.
But this time around, the LDP campaign, for both party and candidates, has become issue-specific. Candidates on the ticket must endorse Koizumi's postal system privatization initiative.