Japan PM Abe pledges to reform constitution

PRIME Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday pledged to keep alive his plans to amend the count r y’s pacifist constitution, despite failing to secure a “supermajority” in upper house elections.

His ruling coalition retained its majority in the upper house in Sunday’s vote for around the half the seats in the chamber, but fell short of securing a twothirds majority in favour of revising the constitution.

“The hurdle of two thirds in both the lower and upper houses is extremely high,” Abe told a news conference at his party headquarters.

“I want to produce a reform proposal that can be agreed upon by two thirds beyond the borders of the ruling and opposition camps,” he said.

Abe has long harboured dreams of revising the constitution, which prohibits the country from waging war and maintaining a military.

But public support for revising the document is low and there is discomfort with the idea even among the ruling coalition.

Experts said that since many within Abe’s coalition were already uneasy about the plans, the failure to secure a supermajority was unlikely to change the prime minister’s calculations significantly.

“Losing the supermajority is not necessarily a major setback for Abe,” wrote analyst Tobias Harris of the Teneo consultancy group in a note.

“Instead, by leading the ruli ng c oa l i t i on t o a not her nationa l election v ictor y– his sixth in his nearly seven years as LDP [Libera l Democratic Pa r t y ] le a der – A b e h a s c emented h i s st at u s atop Ja pa n’s pol it ic a l s y s t em,” Harris added.

Abe’s LDP and its coalition pa r t ner Komeito took 71 of t he 124 seats up for grabs in Su nday ’s vote, accou nt i ng for about ha l f of t he upper chamber.

The two parties already control 70 seats in the other half of the 245-seat chamber that was not being contested.

A na lyst s sa id Abe’s coa l ition benef itted from a weak opposition, and voter turnout underscored apat hy a mong t he electorate, fa l ling below 50 per cent for t he f irst time si nce a 1995 upper house elect ion.

Abe’s win is likely however to shore up his support ahead of a controversia l hike of t he consu mption ta x to 10 per cent later t his year, as well as t r a d e n e g ot i a t i o n s w i t h Washington.

The outcome of Sunday’s election means Abe remains on track to become the count r y ’s longest-ser v i ng pr i me minister later t his year.