The support rate for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet surged 14.3 percentage points to 62 percent, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily said Wednesday.

It is the first time in two years that a periodical interview-based Yomiuri Shimbun survey has shown support for Koizumi exceeding 60 percent, the newspaper said.

The disapproval rating was at 29.9 percent, down 10.9 points from the previous survey in August.

Riding on high approval ratings, the Liberal Democratic Party secured an absolute majority in the general election on Sept. 11. Koizumi's popularity played a key role in the triumph. There are even calls within the party for him to go ahead with his party presidency as well the premiership, despite the tenures end next September. Yet, Koizumi has said he had no intention to serve a longer term.

Of those who said they supported the cabinet, 42 percent said it was because they admired Koizumi's approach to politics, 32 percent said the cabinet was better than previous ones and 25 percent said it had made some achievements, according to the survey.

The support rate for the LDP rose 9.6 percent to 43.7 percent, breaking the record set by Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa's cabinet 15 years ago, the daily said.

The largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan also logged higher support rate at 14.9 percent.

Asked what issues respondents wanted the Koizumi Cabinet to do first, 61 percent chose social security system reform, followed by economic measures at 57 percent. Only 20.2 percent picked postal privatization Koizumi bills as his top priority.

The survey was carried out Saturday and Sunday through interviews with 3,000 voters randomly selected at 250 locations across the countries and 60.8 percent of the interviewees responded.

Also on Wednesday, Koizumi's cabinet resigned hours before the start of a special parliament session in which the ruling coalition is aimed at putting through the postal reform bills. But he was expected to rename the same ministers to his new government.

Koizumi has said he would not reshuffle the current cabinet by the end of the session scheduled for November.

The premier has taken stern moves to reinforce the unity of the LDP, a rift of which has grounded Koizumi's postal bills in upper house and led to the general election.

(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2005)