Voters yesterday backed conservative premier Shinzo Abe, despite a lacklustre economic performance, handing his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its allies control of more than half of the upper house of parliament. Earlier projections had shown it was within their grasp for the first time since 1989.
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Komeito gained 14 seats, boosting its presence from nine seats before the election and securing a total of 25 seats in the chamber.
“The constitutional review committee of the Diet will discuss the matter and boil down which articles should be revised and how”, he said of the charter that has not been modified since it was enacted in 1947.
With their pro-business policies, the Liberal Democrats have ruled Japan nearly continuously since World War II, and until recently enjoyed solid support from rural areas.
Tetsuro Kato, professor of politics at Waseda University, said Abe won’t rush to change the constitution, saying he needs better timing because the recent strengthening of the yen – a minus for exports – and concerns about global economic growth.
She said she was concerned about the Abe administration’s moves to revise the constitution and expand Japan’s military powers.
Commentaries by the Xinhua news agency are not formal government statements but often reflect official thinking in China, where memories of Japan’s past militarism still spark outrage.
“To realize revision of the constitution is my duty as LDP president”, Abe told a news conference.
Some in financial markets worry focus on the constitution will distract attention from the economy, but Abe promised to craft a large stimulus package.
“The key question will be whether he can carry out [economic] structural reforms”, said Nobuhiko Kuramochi, chief strategist at Mizuho Securities.
Despite massive fiscal stimulus, his “Abenomics” programme has largely failed to deliver, having done little more than weaken the value of the yen – which is now back on the rise. He also wants to increase the economy by 20 percent to $6 trillion.
“I voted hoping the economy of the country gets better”, Jiro Yonehara, a “salaryman”, as company employees are called, said after emerging from a voting booth.
The results in the 24th upper house election were finalized after the vote-counting was finished on Monday morning.
That victory, with the ruling bloc’s two-thirds majority in the lower house, opens the door to revising the constitution for the first time since its adoption after Japan’s defeat in World War Two. “There was little reason to sell the yen to begin with, as Japan has a large current account surplus, the Fed is unlikely to actively hike rates and fundamental risks smoulder in Britain, the European Union and China”, said Junichi Ishikawa, forex analyst at IG Securities in Tokyo.
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“But in the end”, she said, “I think all we can rely on is the LDP”. A referendum, however, would be needed and many Japanese still support the country’s pacifist stance.
