Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has called for a debate on rewriting the country’s pacifist constitution after his Liberal Democratic party [LDP] and its allies secured a supermajority in upper house elections on Sunday.
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Japan’s ruling coalition was a clear victor in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, preliminary results and Japanese media exit polls indicated, paving the way for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to push ahead with his economic revival policies, but also possibly changing the nation’s postwar pacifist constitution.
At the news conference, Abe said he will accelerate to top speed efforts to combat deflation in the country. He said some members of the opposition may defect to the ruling coalition, as some agree with Abe’s views. The main liberal opposition party, the Democratic Party won 49 seats, falling from 60, while the Japanese Communist Party and Osaka Ishin no Kai increased their seat counts.
The House of Councillors, as the upper house is formally known, is the less powerful chamber in Japan’s bicameral legislature, and half its seats come up for election every three years.
South Korea’s major dailies on Monday carried articles on their front pages on Japan’s House of Councillors election held on Sunday, with headlines focusing on the path being cleared for constitutional reform by the ruling coalition. He declined to give details.
“We hope Japan will pursue a path of peaceful development, be cautious with its action in the military and security fields, and do more to maintain the regional peace, stability and security”, Lu said. But if Abe sets his sights low, he may be able to win approval for a modest revision that could lay the groundwork for deeper change later. Nationalists regard the constitution as a humiliating holdover from Japan’s defeat in World War II, in particular Article 9, the pacifist clause.
The Democratic Party stumbled badly in its last stint in power, notably in its response to the 2011 quake and Fukushima nuclear disaster.
“But in the end”, she said, “I think all we can rely on is the LDP”.
“The public is old”.
Sunday’s balloting is the first election since the voting age has been lowered from 20 to 18.Japan has not been able to determine just how numerous more than two million new eligible voters will actually vote in the polls or how they will vote.
Having trouble trading the Japanese Yen? “Markets want confirmation of Mr Abe’s strong grip on power, but they also want Abe to use that power for the economy first, not constitutional reform”, said Mr Jesper Koll, chief executive at fund manager WisdomTree Japan. His minister for Okinawa, Aiko Shimajiri, lost her seat, along with Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki.
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Abe told a parliamentary session in March that he was hoping to achieve a revision during his term, which expires in September 2018, but he hasn’t said specifically what change he would seek.
