LDP’s election pledges to contain Abe’s Constitution amendment proposals

September 21, 2017

TOKYO- The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is considering including four constitutional amendment proposals by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in its policy pledges for the imminent election of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Japan's Diet, informed sources said Wednesday.

But the LDP will refrain from showing draft amendments with specific wording because some party members oppose the proposals by Abe, also LDP president, the sources said.

The four proposals include adding to war-renouncing Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution a paragraph stipulating the rationale for the existence of the Self-Defense Forces and allowing an extension of lawmakers' terms in emergency situations, such as major natural disasters.

At a meeting of the LDP's headquarters on promoting constitutional amendments, Okiharu Yasuoka, head of the panel, was given a free hand to draft the party's election pledges as far as the supreme law is concerned.

Some LDP members, including Shigeru Ishiba, former secretary-general of the party, stick to an LDP constitutional amendment draft compiled in 2012 that calls for creating national defense forces by removing the second paragraph of Article 9, which proclaims Japan's non-possession of land, sea and air forces. Jiji Press