A summary of the points of discussion on amending the Constitution, compiled by a panel of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, shows that consensus remains elusive even within the LDP on how specifically it intends to revise the nation's supreme code. Abe has repeatedly expressed hopes that an amended Constitution will take effect in 2020, and the LDP plans to submit its draft to the Diet next year for discussion with other parties with a view to initiating an amendment by summer 2019 — while the two-thirds Diet majority grip by the ruling coalition and its pro-amendment allies is secure. But as the prime minister himself concedes, discussions on amending the Constitution should not be driven by such time frames or political considerations.
The prospect of a constitutional revision became real after the LDP-Komeito alliance under Abe, who has championed an amendment as a key element of his political agenda, won a two-thirds majority in the Upper House along with other pro-amendment forces in 2016.
Under Article 96 of the Constitution, an amendment must be initiated by a concurring vote of two-thirds of all members in each chamber of the Diet, and then ratified in a national referendum. The October general election returned the LDP-Komeito alliance to its two-thirds grip of the Lower House since 2012, but half of the Upper House seats again come up for grabs in a triennial election in 2019.