PLD and Komeito maintain the necessary majority in the Japanese Diet or Parliament
July 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The block of Japanese parties favorable to the reform of the Constitution to eliminate its pacifist character has achieved a clear victory in the partial elections to the Sangiin or Chamber of Councilors, the Upper House of Japan, held this Sunday, with which they add up to two thirds necessary to promote its modification. The elections have been marked by the death two days ago of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the victim of an attack.
The Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) of the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, has been the great winner of the elections after winning at least 63 of the 125 seats at stake, while his ally, the Komeito party, adds another 12 seats, according to official results.
The conservative Initiatives from Japan party and the Democratic Party for the People also support the constitutional reform, with which the reformist bloc adds 82 seats in these elections and reaches 170 seats in the Sangiin, above two thirds of the chamber (166 seats) necessary to promote a referendum for what would be the first reform of the Magna Carta currently in force, which dates back to 1947.
These four parties have openly proposed changing Article 9, which specifies the country’s renunciation of war as a foreign policy tool and thus renounces the sovereign right to belligerence. Therefore, it enshrines at the constitutional level the renunciation of military forces capable of war, so that the armed forces are limited to the Japan Self-Defense Forces, which do not have offensive weapons such as nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles.
“We are going to deepen the parliamentary debate on the Constitution so that a concrete reform proposal can be compiled,” Kishida explained after the vote.
The Initiatives leader from Japan, Ichiro Matsui, has summoned the PLD to “set a timetable” for the constitutional reform “that the late former Prime Minister Abe would have liked to see.”
MAJORITY OF THE KISHIDA COALITION
These results also represent a huge boost for the Kishida government just nine months after the last elections, since the PLD and Komeito exceed the 55 seats needed to retain a majority in the Chamber of Councillors.
The chamber is made up of 245 seats, of which 125 were up for grabs in elections that renew half of the hemicycle every three years, plus vacancies.
“The COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the price increase… we believe that we must work to address these key issues and make an effort to revive the Japanese economy,” Kishida said after the elections in an act at the party’s headquarters in Tokyo in which a memory for Abe has not been lacking.
Another important fact: the collapse of the main opposition to Kishida, represented in the main Constitutional Democratic Party, which remains in 23 seats, more than 20 less than it had before the vote. “The approval rate of our party is still low. We need to work on ourselves and recover our support,” said the leader of the formation, Izumi Kenta, who has not considered resigning.
On the other hand, the emerging and conservative Initiatives from Japan wins at least 10 seats, compared to the previous six; while the Communist Party of Japan won three seats and the left-wing Reiwa Shinsengumi, one.
The leader of Initiatives from Japan, Matsui Ichiro, despite his improvement in results, has submitted his resignation as head of training. Ichiro has explained the results have not been as good as expected against an “inordinately powerful” PLD. However, he has criticized Kishida’s party’s “old” policy, proposals that “do not work in the current situation of Japan’s aging and shrinking population,” reports NHK.
Ichiro has highlighted the need for reforms to achieve a “sustainable society” and has called on the deputies of the formation to confront the PLD.
Ichiro himself had announced before the election that he would retire from politics in April 2023, when his term as mayor of Osaka ends.
The participation has been reinforced in an election in the shadow of Abe’s murder and has exceeded 51 percent, more than two points above the last figure. All the parties defended in unison the holding of elections despite the trauma that the crime has represented. “Elections are the pillar of democracy and democracy must be defended,” Kishida said on Friday.
“We cannot give in to violence and for this reason we will continue to fight the election campaign until the end. I hope that the people of Japan will think about it and work hard to protect our democracy,” the prime minister said.
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