Japan Press Weekly

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2017 June 21 - 27 TOP3 [POLITICS]

JCP Koike: PM Abe has no legal right to talk about constitutional revision

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira on June 26 criticized Prime Minister Abe’s intent to submit the Liberal Democratic Party’s draft constitution to an extraordinary session of the Diet likely to be convened this autumn for violating his obligation as prime minister under Article 99 of the Constitution stipulating that all public officials should respect and uphold the supreme law.

At a press conference in the Diet building, Koike referred to the fact that while bulldozing through the unconstitutional war laws and anti-conspiracy law, PM Abe-led ruling coalition refused to accept a request made by the opposition alliance based on the Constitution to immediately initiate an extraordinary Diet session. Koike said, “PM Abe is legally obliged to abide by the Constitution. Abe, who shows his reluctance to fulfill his constitutional obligation, has no legal grounds to talk about constitutional revision.”

Furthermore, Koike noted that following PM Abe’s announcement of his plan to present the LDP draft constitution to the autumn extraordinary Diet session, the party’s Acting Secretary General Shimomura Hakubun pointed to the need to speed up the party’s discussions on the draft. Koike said, “In the ongoing Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election campaign, the JCP is calling on voters to deliver to the Abe administration a verdict opposing the move for Article 9 revision.”

Asked about the falling approval rate for the Abe Cabinet in opinion polls regarding the Tokyo metro assembly election, Koike said that survey results show growing public anger and distrust toward PM Abe’s ruling coalition.

Even in an opinion survey of Tokyo voters by the well-known right-wing and pro-Abe daily Yomiuri Shimbun, Prime Minister Abe’s approval rate fell to 39% from 48% in the previous survey conducted in mid-June and his disapproval rate went up to 50% from 39%.

Citing the Abe government’s arrogant attitude taken during the process of enacting the anti-conspiracy law and dishonest stance toward the “Kake Gakuen” scandal, Koike said, “With more and more people feeling anger toward and mistrust in the Abe government, the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties are losing their supporters.”

Past related article:
> JCP Koike denounces Abe’s call for legitimizing SDF [May 5, 2017]