Japan’s ruling coalition won an election to the Upper House on Sunday, winning a majority of the seats it contested. The results saw Prime Minister Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior coalition partner Komito increase their tally of seats to 146.
However, the mood among the winners was gloomy as the election was held in the shadow of the assassination of former LDP chief and Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
The LDP won the seat in Nara where Shinzo Abe was assassinated near Yamato-Saidaiji Station while delivering a speech in support of LDP candidate Kei Sato.
In the elections, the Kishida-led LDP won 63 seats and Komito won 13 of the 125 seats.
The opposition secured 49 seats, taking its tally to 102 in the Upper House.
After the election victory, Kishida said he plans to revive the economy and boost income as Japanese citizens reel from inflation and rising food prices.
“We will also deal with diplomacy, security and constitutional reforms one by one,” Kishida was quoted as saying by news agency Nikkei Asia.
The victory of the coalition government also shows that the people support their policies.
The opposition parties the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) and the Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) continued to struggle, with a modest lead in the elections.
‘Constitutional Reform’
A victory in the election would allow Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to amend Japan’s pacifist constitution for the first time. “I want to focus efforts on putting together a specific proposal [that Parliament could submit for the national referendum]Kishida said.
The victory would allow the coalition led by Kishida and the ruling LDP to increase military spending – a longstanding goal of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
“Today’s Ukraine Tomorrow’s East Asia could be,” Kishida said recently.
The amendment would also mean that Japan’s military force is legal because Japan’s pacifist constitution states that Japan will never maintain combat capability such as land, sea, and air forces, but since it maintains self-defense forces, Critics say it is unconstitutional.
The ruling LDP set up a panel that suggested raising defense spending to 2% of GDP within five years.
If Kishida and the LDP were allowed to amend the constitution, the Japanese military would receive funding for weapons that would destroy enemy missile bases and their command-and-control centers if an imminent attack on Japan was likely.
The demand for such a modification continues to grow as China takes routine steps to undermine the sovereignty of its neighbors and North Korea remains troubled by its missile tests. There was also a minute push from the US to ask Japan to support its military operations in East Asia.
(With inputs from Nikkei Asia and The Washington Post)
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