The July 10 House of Councilors election could put at least two-thirds of the Upper House in the hands of lawmakers amenable to amending the Constitution, opening the door to a national referendum on the issue, a Kyodo News survey indicated Thursday.
The ruling bloc of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito are likely to win at least 70 of the 121 seats up for grabs in the election, comfortably exceeding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's stated target of 61, a majority of the contested seats.
The nationwide telephone poll conducted Wednesday and Thursday — in which 34,240 households nationwide were surveyed and 27,597 eligible voters responded — suggests that with the addition of Osaka Ishin no Kai and independents thought likely to support reform, Abe could amass sufficient support for his long-standing goal of amending the war-renouncing Constitution.