Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears headed for a third three-year term as ruling party leader, extending his hold on power and giving him time to pursue a long-cherished goal — revising his country’s US-imposed post-World War II constitution.
Abe reportedly has the support of a large majority of party representatives ahead of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership vote on Sept. 20.
“I will take on the task of revising the constitution, a postwar challenge that has never been achieved, in order to open a new era,” Abe said on Friday in a televised debate with his only challenger, former Japanese minister of defense Shigeru Ishiba.
With a third term, the 63-year-old Abe, prime minister since December 2012, is poised to become Japan’s longest-serving leader.
He reportedly has the support of 70 percent of the 405 parliament members from his party, and is expected to win about 60 percent of the other 405 votes allocated to regional rank-and-file members, media surveys have shown.
With Abe’s victory widely expected, the focus has shifted to who would get key party posts and Cabinet appointments — and his possible successor.
Revising the US-drafted 1947 constitution is a pledge of the Liberal Democratic Party that none of Abe’s predecessors has been able to achieve. They include Abe’s grandfather, former Japanese prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, who saw the constitution as a humiliation imposed on Japan following its World War II defeat.
Abe earlier this week said he hoped that his party could submit a draft revision to a parliamentary session later this year.
He is proposing to add a clause to Article 9, which bans the use of force in settling international disputes. The clause would explicitly permit the existence of Japan’s military, known as the Self-Defense Force.
His coalition government holds the two-thirds majority needed in both houses to approve a national referendum on a constitutional amendment, but the issue is controversial and it is unclear whether Abe could get enough votes for its passage.
For the public, the constitution is a lesser concern than issues such as pay, education and the high cost of childcare, surveys have shown.
Party members credit him with leading the party to major victories in national elections.
He has lasted so long because many lawmakers are primarily interested in getting his and other senior lawmakers’ backing in elections, veteran political analyst Soichiro Tahara wrote in his blog, saying: “Many Liberal Democratic lawmakers have become ‘yes men’ of the leadership.”
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