The July 21 Upper House election is the first postwar national election in which constitutional revisions have become a real issue. Three parties — the Liberal Democratic Party, the Japan Restoration Party and Your Party — call for constitutional revisions, especially the weakening of Article 96, an article designed to prevent imprudent changes to the Constitution.
These parties say that Article 96 should be changed so that amendments could be initiated with a concurring vote of a simple majority of all the members of each House of the Diet, instead of the two-thirds or more required at present. Ratification of an amendment requires the affirmative vote of a majority of all votes cast at a special national referendum.
Although changes to the Constitution, including a revision of the war-renouncing Article 9, will greatly alter the shape of the nation, it appears that the issue is not getting much attention from voters and that they are mainly interested in the nation's economic recovery. This is a deplorable situation, and the one mainly responsible for it is Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.