Amending the Constitution is discussed more openly than ever by political parties as they brace for the Oct. 22 general election. Attention will focus on whether pro-amendment forces will gain a two-thirds majority in the Lower House — which has been held by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition. That, however, is only a threshold for initiating an amendment for approval in a national referendum. Political discussions on specifics of what to change in the Constitution and how have not matured enough. Voters — who hold the final say in an amendment — should scrutinize the specific positions of each party on the issue as they weigh their judgment.
For the first time since its return to power in 2012, Abe's Liberal Democratic Party is singling out a constitutional amendment as one of the key pledges in its campaign platform. Despite Abe's repeated push for revising the Constitution, the call for an amendment was only briefly mentioned at the end of the party's campaign promises in the last three Diet elections. Now the LDP is citing four specific points of amendment— clarifying the legal status of the Self-Defense Forces under the pacifist Constitution, making education free of charge, giving the government emergency powers in case of a national crisis and eliminating Upper House electoral districts that straddle more than one prefecture.
The party pledges that it will seek to achieve "the first-ever amendment to the Constitution" by proposing a revision to the Diet based on sufficient discussions in and out of the party so that the legislature can initiate an amendment for a public referendum. It does not set any timeline for revising the Constitution — although Abe expressed his hopes earlier this year of having an amended Constitution take effect by 2020.