LDP to show resolve to revise Constitution in action plan

March 5, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is set to highlight in its annual party action plan for 2018 its resolve to take the lead in realizing constitutional revisions as desired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a draft obtained by Jiji Press revealed Friday.

While emphasizing that the constitution expresses the form of the country and its ideals, a preamble of the action plan says that the LDP will take the lead in deepening discussions with the public on constitutional amendments.

The LDP plans to adopt its annual action plan at a party convention on March 25.

After the preamble, the action plan calls on the party to present constitution amendment proposals and revise the constitution. In its 2017 action plan, the LDP only referred to constitutional revisions as one of its policy challenges.

The 2018 plan calls on the LDP to promote constructive discussions on constitutional changes, including four key issues such as revisions to war-renouncing Article 9 and extensions of lawmaker terms during times of emergency.

The LDP will sincerely consider proposals from other parties, the plan says. It also says that the LDP's prefectural chapters will sponsor study meetings on constitutional revisions in a bid to seek support from the public.

The plan says the LDP will try to build a broad-based consensus at parliamentary panels discussing constitutional changes, according to the draft.

The action plans calls on LDP members to beef up daily activities in order to win support from voters ahead of unified local elections and the election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament, next year.

The plan shows the LDP's determination to win an expected gubernatorial election in November in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa. It seeks to utilize momentum from the mayoral election held in February in the Okinawa city of Nago, in which an LDP-backed candidate defeated an incumbent who opposes the government's plan to relocate a U.S. military base within the prefecture. Jiji Press