The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won 63 seats, or more than half of the 125 seats up for grabs in Sunday’s election, local media reported on Monday. The LDP’s Coalition partner Komeito won 13 seats. Their victory in Sunday’s vote means political forces that support revising Japan’s pacifist constitution – a long-held ambition of Abe’s – will retain a two-thirds majority in the 248-member upper house. Kyodo news agency reported that the pro-constitutional amendment camp, which in addition to the LDP-Komeito coalition, includes the opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Democratic People’s Party, now has 179 seats. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, a protégé of Abe, said late Sunday he would push ahead with plans to amend the constitution, which was imposed on Japan by the United States after World War II. The charter, passed in 1947, renounces “war as the nation’s sovereign right,” and Abe has long sought to amend that provision, pointing to what he called a “severe” security environment, including the growing influence of China and nuclear and North Korea. missile program. Kishida said the ruling coalition “will further deepen the parliamentary debate on the constitution so that a concrete amendment proposal can be drawn up”. But he said dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising prices would be his priorities. Kishida may move cautiously on constitutional change, but the LDP victory looked poised to pave the way for more defense spending, said Robert Ward of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Kishida “now has the green light for it,” Ward told Reuters news agency.
‘Extremely Meaningful’
A strong result in Sunday’s election will also allow Kishida to consolidate his hold on the divided LDP and secure another three years as prime minister. Kishida called for party unity during his speech at the LDP polling station and praised Japan for holding the election, two days after Abe’s death. “Elections, which are the foundation of democracy, have been challenged by violence,” he said. “It was extremely important that we held the election.” Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister and a dominant force in the LDP, was shot with an improvised weapon on Friday while delivering a campaign speech in the western city of Nara. The killing shocked a country where violence is rare. The suspect accused of killing Abe was transferred to a local prosecutor’s office for further investigation on Sunday, and a top regional police official acknowledged possible security gaps allowed the gunman to get close to the former prime minister. The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, told investigators he acted because of Abe’s rumored connection to an organization he resented, police said. Some Japanese media identified the group as the Unification Church. As Japan mourned Abe’s killing, top US diplomat Anthony Blinken visited Tokyo on Monday to express condolences over the former leader’s death. Blinken, who was in Indonesia for the Group of 20 foreign ministers’ meeting when Abe was shot, gave Kishida a letter from President Joe Biden to Abe’s family. “We just want them to know that we feel the loss deeply and on a personal level,” Blinken told Kishida. “Mostly I’m here because the United States and Japan are more than allies — we’re friends.” Blinken said Abe “has done more than anyone else to elevate the relationship between the United States and Japan to new heights.” His funeral is set for Tuesday.
Record wins for women
Some observers said Abe’s assassination may have prompted support votes, with turnout at about 52 percent, about three points higher than the previous 48.8 percent in 2019. While Sunday’s poll gave the LDP its best election result since 2013, Kyodo said the main opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, lost six of the seats it held before Sunday’s election. It now has 17 seats in the upper house. Kenta Izumi, the leader of the CDP, told party leaders late Sunday that he received the result as voters “don’t want to turn away from the LDP and trust us to run the government.” He said he would not resign as party leader. A record number of women also won seats in Sunday’s election, with around 35 of the 181 female candidates who took part in the vote being elected to the Upper House. “The result reflects a slow but gradual change in the country’s male-dominated political landscape,” Kyodo said.
