Winning coalition in position to revise Japan’s constitution
TOKYO Japan’s ruling coalition swept to victory in key parliamentary elections Sunday, setting the stage for potential revision of the country’s post- World War II pacifist constitution — a long- sought goal of Japanese conservatives.
Late returns and news media projections showed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Komeito Party, gaining a solid majority in the upper house of Japan’s parliament, called the Diet.
More important, the ruling coalition and other pro- revision parties appeared to win a two- thirds “super majority” necessary for revising the constitution.
Abe said in a televised interview after the polls closed that a review commission would decide the scope of constitutional changes.
“Through thorough debate in the Diet commission and a deepened understanding among the people, we can hope for a convergence ( of opinion) on which articles will be amended,” Abe said about the constitution. He did not set a timetable or details for the commission.
Abe and supporters had largely avoided constitutional revision during the run- up to the upper house election, focusing instead on economic issues.
Still, changing the 70- year- old charter has long been a dream of Japanese con- servatives, who view the document as a legacy of Japan’s defeat in World War II.
The constitution was adopted in 1946, the first year of the U. S. post- war occupation, and has not changed since.
By law, the constitution can be revised with a two- thirds vote of each house of the Diet and a majority vote in a nationwide referendum.
Abe’s party and its coalition partner already have a two- thirds majority in the lower house. Opinion polls show that only about a third of Japanese voters favor revising the constitution.
Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party introduced a draft constitution in 2012 that reflected a strong conservative agenda, including a reduction in media freedoms and designation of the emperor as head of state.
The charter would impose new, nationalist- tinged legal requirements on citizens, such as showing “respect” for Japan’s rising- sun flag and Kimigayo, the national anthem.