Going for Constitutional Amendment

After the statement of activation of new constitution in 2020 by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, discussion over constitutional amendment was accelerated mainly inside Liberal Democratic Party. Asahi Shimbun reported how that sudden announcement was prepared. There was a firm conviction in Abe’s mind that constitutional amendment would not be achieved in administrations other than his own.

The scheduling of constitutional amendment in 2020 started last June, when Abe abandoned simultaneous election of both Houses in the Diet. The leading Parties, LDP and Komeito, already had two-third majority, which was needed for taking initiative for national referendum, in House of Representatives at the time. It was needed in House of Councillors getting two-third majority. As Abe expected, LDP, Komeito and Japan Restoration Party constructed enough power for the initiative after the election.

TV statement of Emperor Akihito for his abdication last August was unexpected slowdown for discussion over the amendment. The status of Emperor is determined in the Constitution of Japan. If abdication of Emperor required constitutional amendment, the discussion will be highly complicated. Abe administration established experts’ meeting for abdication and it concluded that the abdication would not require changing the Constitution.

After paving the way for abdication, Abe announced amendment 2020 last month. Regarding scarcity of time for the process, Abe chose limited version of constitutional amendment, which left two clauses in Article 9 untouched and added a clause for status of Self-defense Force. While it was for attracting Komeito, which was reluctant to changing Article 9, there came up opposition from LDP, which had a detailed draft of constitutional amendment.

Abe was frustrated with resentment from LDP. “In spite of the fact that they cannot persuade the leading parties, they keep on saying that ‘LDP draft is better,’ which would be making no difference from constitutional protectionism,” said Abe in a meeting last month. “They will approve when the hardest conservative, it’s me, is saying so.” This is rule of human.

There is two years left for the amendment. The limited version of amendment was led by Abe’s brain and a policy advisor for conservative Japan Conference, Tetsuo Ito, who upheld adding a SDF clause. With that idea, Abe hopes to have constitutional referendum and election of House of Representatives simultaneously. That idea is based on a calculation that Abe can maintain his administration even after he fails in referendum, if LDP has victory in the election.