An emboldened Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday called for debate on Japan’s pacifist constitution, which he said it was his “duty” to revise after scoring a strong win in Sunday’s elections.
Voters backed the hawkish prime minister, despite a lackluster economic performance, handing his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its allies control of two-thirds of the seats in the upper house of parliament.
That victory, with the ruling bloc’s super majority in the lower house, opens the door to revising the constitution for the first time since its imposition after Japan’s defeat in World War II.
Analysts say with the support of small nationalist parties, Abe may now have the numbers to push through a change to the constitutional bar on Japanese troops waging war.
“We have always set a goal of revising the constitution ... that is my duty as president,” Abe said.
“But the party does not have more than two-thirds of seats in both chambers by itself, so I don’t expect the draft would pass as is,” he said, referring to the parliament’s lower house as well, and suggesting compromise was needed.
“So I hope debate will steadily deepen,” he said.
China’s Xinhua news agency quickly warned that the victory posed a danger to regional stability.
“With Japan’s pacifist constitution at serious stake and Abe’s power expanding, it is alarming both for Japan’s Asian neighbors, as well as for Japan itself, as Japan’s militarization would serve to benefit neither side,” a Xinhua commentary said.
Revisions require a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament and a majority of votes in a public referendum.
Experts said that building such agreement would be tough.
“It’s the first time to have two-thirds in both houses of parliament, but you can’t find any issue on which the two-thirds can agree,” said Gerry Curtis, professor emeritus at New York’s Columbia University.
Some in financial markets worry a focus on the constitution would drain attention from the economy, but Abe yesterday promised to craft a large stimulus package.
“A public referendum is needed so he must boost support to advance revision. So for constitutional change as well, he will probably come up with a large-scale economic package,” said Daiji Aoki, a senior economist at UBS Securities Japan.
Doubts about Abe’s policies persist even though his ruling bloc won big in terms of the number of seats. Many voters felt they had no other option, given memories of the main opposition Democratic Party’s rocky 2009 to 2012 rule. Others stayed home.
Surveys show many Japanese voters are wary of changing the constitution’s war-renouncing Article 9, which advocates see as the source of Japan’s post-war peace and democracy. Formal revision of Article 9 would likely be largely symbolic — though nonetheless historic.
Convincing the Komeito party, the dovish junior partner in the LDP-led coalition, to agree would be challenging. The pro-revision camp might therefore tackle another amendment first.
One possibility is a clause giving the government more power in a national emergency, a move critics say would curtail civil rights.
Another option, floated by the Komeito, would be to add an environmental protection clause. That less contentious step would nonetheless break the political taboo.
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