YOKOHAMA -- Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the front-runner in the race to become the next prime minister, said Tuesday he would push ahead with contentious efforts to amend the Constitution if he is chosen to succeed Junichiro Koizumi.
"It is time to take the initiative to place (creation of) a new Constitution on the political road map," Abe told a convention of members of the Liberal Democratic Party's southern and northern Kanto chapters held in Yokohama.
The most controversial constitutional issue concerns Article 9, which prohibits use of force to settle international disputes.