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▼ LDP Unveils Election Pledges, Including Constitution Revision Plan
- Category:Event
TOKYO - The ruling Liberal Democratic Party announced Monday its six-point campaign platform for the Oct 22 House of Representatives election, including a commitment to debate a revision to the Japanese Constitution.
Official campaigning for the election, in which the LDP will face a reorganized opposition likely to be dominated by the new Kibo no To (party of hope) led by Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike, is set to begin on Oct 10.
Among issues at stake is a potential amendment to the Constitution -- something the LDP has aimed for since its inception in 1955 -- that would require the support of two-thirds majorities in each chamber of parliament plus a majority in a nationwide referendum.
The election pledge states the LDP will aim to make the first-ever amendment to the Constitution "on the basis of sufficient debate inside and outside the party" of four specific points.
The points include the question of adding a specific mention of the status of the Self-Defense Forces, one of the changes that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to push through. The SDF are currently governed by their own law but are absent from the Constitution, Article 9 of which requires Japan to renounce war and the maintenance of "war potential."
However, the LDP's pledge does not specifically mention Article 9, reflecting the fact that Abe's proposal on the topic is very controversial even within the party.
Other parties have expressed mixed views on making changes to Article 9, including Koike's new party, which is expected to compete with the LDP for conservative and swing voters.
The other three points are a contentious plan to allow exemptions to parts of the Constitution during a state of emergency, a guarantee of free education and reviewing merged electoral districts for the House of Councillors so as to allow every prefecture to have at least one member in the chamber again.
As well as constitutional reform, the LDP's election platform covers North Korea policy, the future of the "Abenomics" policy package, productivity, human resources development and regional revitalization.
It includes a preface in which Abe, in his capacity as LDP president, describes the threat from North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile development and Japan's shrinking and aging population as the "two national crises" at the heart of the election.
It repeats parts of Abe's speech last week explaining his decision to dissolve the lower house, in which he said Japan must "apply maximum pressure" on North Korea while tackling its own demographic problems with a "productivity revolution" and "human resources revolution."
To that end, the party is proposing spending a larger proportion of the extra revenue from a planned consumption tax hike in October 2019 on social welfare initiatives for children and the childbearing-age population.
The party also promises to make preschool education free for children aged between 3 and 5 by fiscal 2020, and from birth for low-income families.
The LDP and the Abe administration are keen to recover from a blow to popularity earlier this year from a string of scandals, notably allegations that the prime minister was involved in some way in favorable treatment of his acquaintances' education projects.
© KYODO
Official campaigning for the election, in which the LDP will face a reorganized opposition likely to be dominated by the new Kibo no To (party of hope) led by Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike, is set to begin on Oct 10.
Among issues at stake is a potential amendment to the Constitution -- something the LDP has aimed for since its inception in 1955 -- that would require the support of two-thirds majorities in each chamber of parliament plus a majority in a nationwide referendum.
The election pledge states the LDP will aim to make the first-ever amendment to the Constitution "on the basis of sufficient debate inside and outside the party" of four specific points.
The points include the question of adding a specific mention of the status of the Self-Defense Forces, one of the changes that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to push through. The SDF are currently governed by their own law but are absent from the Constitution, Article 9 of which requires Japan to renounce war and the maintenance of "war potential."
However, the LDP's pledge does not specifically mention Article 9, reflecting the fact that Abe's proposal on the topic is very controversial even within the party.
Other parties have expressed mixed views on making changes to Article 9, including Koike's new party, which is expected to compete with the LDP for conservative and swing voters.
The other three points are a contentious plan to allow exemptions to parts of the Constitution during a state of emergency, a guarantee of free education and reviewing merged electoral districts for the House of Councillors so as to allow every prefecture to have at least one member in the chamber again.
As well as constitutional reform, the LDP's election platform covers North Korea policy, the future of the "Abenomics" policy package, productivity, human resources development and regional revitalization.
It includes a preface in which Abe, in his capacity as LDP president, describes the threat from North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile development and Japan's shrinking and aging population as the "two national crises" at the heart of the election.
It repeats parts of Abe's speech last week explaining his decision to dissolve the lower house, in which he said Japan must "apply maximum pressure" on North Korea while tackling its own demographic problems with a "productivity revolution" and "human resources revolution."
To that end, the party is proposing spending a larger proportion of the extra revenue from a planned consumption tax hike in October 2019 on social welfare initiatives for children and the childbearing-age population.
The party also promises to make preschool education free for children aged between 3 and 5 by fiscal 2020, and from birth for low-income families.
The LDP and the Abe administration are keen to recover from a blow to popularity earlier this year from a string of scandals, notably allegations that the prime minister was involved in some way in favorable treatment of his acquaintances' education projects.
© KYODO
- October 3, 2017
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