Koizumi headed for a landslide

The results are not official, but polls are closed and the national media in Japan are saying Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is headed for a landslide victory in Sunday's elections for Japan's lower house of parliament.

The LDP may end up with as many as 309 of the 480 seats, sixty more than when he dissolved the lower house after failure of his postal reform package to pass. Koizumi is calling this a mandate for his reform of the $2-trillion postal savings system, among other reforms.

An official vote count was not expected until Monday morning.