Japan PM Abe’s ruling bloc on track for big win in election
Abe’s Liberal Democratic Partyled coalition was set to win 311 seats, keeping its two-thirds ‘super majority’ in the 465-member lower house, an exit poll by TBS television showed
TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc was headed for a big win in Sunday’s election, bolstering his chance of becoming the nation’s longest serving premier and potentially reenergising his push to revise the pacifist constitution.
Abe’s Liberal Democratic Partyled (LDP) coalition was set to win 311 seats, keeping its two-thirds “super majority” in the 465-member lower house, an exit poll by TBS television showed. Public broadcaster
NHK also said the ruling bloc was closing in on a two-thirds majority, although some other broadcasters had the ruling bloc slightly below the two-thirds mark.
A hefty win raises the likelihood that Abe, who took office in December 2012, will have a third three-year term as LDP leader next September and go on to become Japan’s longest-serving premier. It also means his “Abenomics” growth strategy centred on the hyper-easy monetary policy will likely continue.
Final official results from the election, which coincided with an approaching typhoon, are ex- pected early on Monday. The U.S.drafted constitution’s Article 9, if taken literally, bans the maintenance of armed forces. But Japanese governments have interpreted it to allow a military exclusively for self-defence.
Backers of Abe’s proposal to clarify the military’s ambiguous status say it would codify the status quo. Critics fear it would allow an expanded role overseas for the military.
The LDP’s junior partner, the Komeito, is cautious about changing the constitution, drawn up after Japan’s loss in World War II.
Several opposition parties favour changes, but don’t necessarily agree on details.
Amendments must be approved by two-thirds of each chamber of parliament and then by a majority in a public referendum.
“Now that pro-constitutional change parties occupy more than two-thirds of the parliament, the constitution will be the most important political issue next year,” said Hidenori Suezawa, a financial market and fiscal analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities.
“And as we saw in the U.K...., a referendum could be tricky. So while Abe is likely to be prime minister for the time being, it is too early to say whether he can stay in power until 2021.”
Abe had said he needed a new mandate to tackle a “national crisis” from North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats and a fast-aging population, and to approve his idea of diverting revenue from a planned sales tax hike to education and child care from public debt repayment.
He called the poll amid confusion in the opposition camp and an uptick in his ratings, dented earlier in the year by suspected cronyism scandals and a perception he had grown arrogant after nearly five years in office.
Abe has backed U.S. President Donald Trump’s tough stance towards North Korea, which has test-fired missiles over Japan, that all options, including military action, are on the table. Trump is to visit Japan November 5-7 to reaffirm the leaders’ tight ties.
Abe’s move had seemed risky - some early forecasts saw the LDP losing a significant chunk of seats - after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, often floated as a possible first Japanese female premier, launched her conservative Party of Hope. Full story @ timesofoman.com/world