Structural Ambiguity of the Liberal Democratic Party: The Dissolution of the Diet in 2005 and the Reinstatement Problem

The purpose of this paper is to explain the ambiguous structure of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) even when under the leadership of Koizumi Jun-ichiro, who adopted the slogan, 'structural reform without sanctuary'. The paper discusses the dissolution of the Diet in 2005 and the problem of reinstating the former LDP members who had opposed the privatization of the postal system. It is noteworthy that the succeeding LDP president Abe Shinzo, who adopted the 'challenge again' (saicharenji) slogan, suddenly opted for their reinstatement. However, this paper argues that the reinstatement was not planned by Abe but Koizumi, who merely pretended to clarify the structure of the LDP by dissolving the Diet and fighting the rebels in the snap general election. This implies that his 'structural reform without sanctuary' slogan had a sanctuary—the LDP itself as the governing party. This will be explained by describing the process through which the rebels were reinstated in the party.