Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party decided Friday to expel former agriculture minister Hosei Norota and recommend 26 House of Representatives members to leave the party for voting against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal privatization bills during the previous parliament session in August.

According to NHK's news channel, the 26 include former Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma, who was one of the dissidents who survived the Sept. 11 general election as independent candidates by defeating LDP challengers.

Among the postal rebels in the House of Councillors, the LDP decided to recommend Ikuo Kamei to quit the party, while suspending the party membership of Naoki Tanaka and Yoshio Nakagawa for one year.

The three are said to have supported LDP rivals from new parties established in opposition to the postal reform, the television report said.

Seventeen other postal rebels in the upper house have faced a one-year suspension of assuming the party's executive posts, it added.

Source: Xinhua