June 21, 2013

The Liberal Democratic Party has called for revision of the war-renouncing Japanese Constitution in its election platform for the House of Councilors election in July.

In the election platform released on June 20, the ruling LDP pledges to submit to the Diet a draft constitution, which includes relaxation of conditions for constitutional amendments, set under Article 96, from approval of a two-thirds majority to just a majority of each House.

The ruling party also proposes to establish a national security law that enables Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense as well as to promote the relocation of the U.S. Futenma base to the Henoko district in Okinawa.

Concerning nuclear power plants, it pledges to “make the utmost effort to receive consent from local governments to reactivate offline reactors once their safety is confirmed.”