The pension records fiasco and concerns about a consumption tax hike have upstaged what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe most wanted to focus on during campaigning for the July 29 Upper House poll — revising the Constitution.
Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party have been on the defensive since May, when the opposition started attacking the ruling bloc over the Social Insurance Agency's mishandling of 50 million public pension payments, part of 250 million payments that could not immediately be matched with their contributors when a new system was adopted years ago.
The discovery has triggered public outrage and brought charges of sloppy management that has caused many retirees to receive fewer benefits than they are entitled to.