Wrapping Up Kishida’s Constitutional Amendment

The Liberal Democratic Party released the talking points for amendment of the Constitution of Japan. They include adding a sentence to Article 9, which endorses existence of Self-defense Force, creating basis for strong authority of the Cabinet in time of emergency. However, the party has not concluded on actual draft of the provisions. It is still not clear whether the LDP is going to achieve consensus among the parties in the Diet, which is needed for initiative with two-third majority.

When he was elected the president of the LDP in 2021, Kishida promised that he would achieve constitutional amendment within his term, which meant doing it by September, 2024. It obviously was a measure for attracting conservative lawmakers in the LDP, whose support were indispensable for maintenance of his administration.

 

Although Kishida insisted on his seriousness on the issue in these three years, he has never led the discussion in the LDP. It was this August when Kishida directly participated in the discussion. Headquarters of for the Realization of Revision of the Constitution wrapped up the discussion over maintenance of the Diet in emergency, in which election cannot be held. At the time, it was regarded as one of the policy tools for Kishida to be reelected in the presidential election.

 

A week later, Kishida announced his stepping down as the president. Nevertheless, the headquarters continued discussion over the amendment and released a different conclusion as “talking points” for the amendment. It is possible that some oppositions will be raised against the outgoing president to lead the discussion on the issue which may bind the discussion under next president.

 

One of the talking points, adding Self-defense Force in Article 9, had been upheld by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In the draft of 2018, the LDP upheld adding Article 9-2, with current paragraph 1 and 2 remain untouched, for describing Self-defense Force. The headquarters decided to succeed that discussion. It also proposed that adding the words of “civilian control” as role of the Cabinet, considering request from the coalition partner, Komeito.

 

Another point is adding provision of “emergency ordinance,” which would be issued in emergency as a decision of the Cabinet. The emergency would be defined as the situation under military attack, terrorism or civil war or pandemic. The members of the Upper House are cautious on “emergency clause,” because the Constitution already has a rule of emergency session of the Upper House, when the Lower House does not work. The headquarters shifted the discussion from extending the term of the Lower House to strengthening power of the Cabinet.

 

Former LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba, who announced his candidacy in the presidential election, has been upholding deleting Paragraph 2 of Article 9 and creating National Defense Force instead of Self-defense Force. Other possible candidates have not clarified their stance on the constitutional amendment. It is too early to tell that the discussion under Kishida’s leadership will be succeeded by next president.

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