Revision of National Referendum Act Passes

The bill of revising National Referendum Act (NRA) for constitutional amendment passed the Lower House and was sent to the Upper House. It is expected to pass the Upper House in current session of the Diet. As discussion for constitutional amendment is slowed down in the Diet, it is possible for Sanae Takaichi government hoped to have a minor achievement for paving a way to the amendment.

The revision of NRA is to ease condition of selecting observers of counting of votes, to select observers in isolated islands when they cannot send votes to the mainland, and いincreasing radio stations for publicity. Although they have already been added to the elections of public offices, including both Houses of the Diet, NRA has not been coordinated, because national referendum for constitutional amendment would be made on a different law.

 

When NRA was revised last time in 2021, there were raised some points which needed to be considered. They were regulation of ads through internet or television, limitation of funds for campaign for amending the constitution or not, and appropriate use of internet. While there is a tendency that elections are affected by power of money and social networking services, there was a concern that constitutional amendments should not be affected by them. But those issues were not included in the current revision.

 

The bill for revising NRA was sponsored by leading coalition (the Liberal Democratic Party and Japan Innovation Party) and two opposition parties (Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito). In the voting of the Lower House, Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA) and Team Mirai also approved revised NRA. It is likely that CRA, which has been careful in procedure of constitutional discussion, thought that revision of NRA would not immediately lead to amendment of the constitution.

 

After the Commission of Constitution in the Lower House proposed some points for adding emergency clause to the constitution in May. They included a provision for the Cabinet to issue an emergency order which would be equivalent to a law. The opposition parties protested the idea of giving the executive branch a power of legislation. The discussion on the proposal has not caught a momentum.

 

The Upper House is not much interested in emergency clause, because the constitution already has a provision that the Upper House would maintain function of the Diet when the Lower House is empty. They are rather focusing on election system of the House, which integrates some electoral districts beyond prefectural border. Even though the leading coalition hopes to accelerate constitutional discussion, it is still far from achieving a common goal among parties.

 

Revision of NRA should be an alternative achievement for Takaichi in constitutional discussion. But she is even not successful in finding a consensus between the LDP, which hopes as easiest amendment as possible, and JIP aiming at the hardest position for amending the Article 9.

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