Abe Willing to Seek Constitutional Revisions One by One

Tokyo, March 1 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday expressed a willingness to seek constitutional revisions one by one, not necessarily as a package. "I'm ready to start with the one that will meet the two-thirds condition," Abe told a parliamentary committee meeting, referring to a constitutional clause that requires a two-thirds vote by both chambers of the Diet in order to propose a constitutional revision for a national referendum. Abe stressed that he will work to expand support for a draft constitution written by the Liberal Democratic Party. But he also said, "We will accept various opinions and modifications as we work to form a two-thirds force." The LDP and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, jointly hold more than two thirds of the 475 seats of the House of Representatives now. But the pair is short of such a majority in the House of Councillors, for which an election will be held in summer. On the country's right to collective self-defense, or the use of force to help allies overseas, Abe expressed the view that a constitutional amendment should enable Japan to fully exercise the right. In 2014, the Abe cabinet approved a reinterpretation of the constitution to lift the country's self-imposed ban on the use of the collective self-defense right. Based on the new interpretation, new national security laws were enacted last year. END