Shocked by his assassination, his party’s victory in the Senate elections gives him the majority needed to reform the pacifist constitution
Shocked by the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as well as showing strong unity in the face of violence, Japan voted in Sunday’s Senate elections. With 125 of the 248 seats at stake, these triennial elections were not only a reaffirmation of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s elected government last year, but also a litmus test for his planned reform of the pacifist constitution, an idea born by Abe who could his health problems do not end by stepping down in 2020.
By winning this battle even after death, Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has won a landslide victory that, along with her coalition partners, gives her the two-thirds majority needed to push through such a reform. With more than 166 seats in the upper house along with its partners from the Buddhist Komeito party and two opposition reform parties, the ruling party also has a majority in the lower house and can finally do what Abe longed for: for the first time the reform the constitution imposed by the United States in 1947.
With a decidedly pacifist character to prevent Japan from repeating the horrors of World War II, this constitution expressly renounces warmongering and prohibits the military, called the self-defense forces, from going abroad. Due to the threat from North Korea, the rise of China and the territorial disputes with Russia exacerbated after the war in Ukraine, the Japanese government plans to amend Article 9 to become a “normal country” whose military, if so called may come. to help its allies, read US, in case of conflict.
In addition to opposition from Japanese pacifist groups, this review was criticized by the Asian countries most affected by Japanese militarism, notably China and South Korea.
But despite mounting international tensions, the electorate has not only supported the government’s intentions, but mobilized even further after Abe’s assassination. Compared to the 48.8% participation in the 2019 Senate elections, this nomination has increased to 52%, according to Kyodo news agency.
This increase is precisely due to the attack that killed the former prime minister on Friday. Since it was revealed that he was shot dead by a former soldier named Tetsuya Yamagami, both the government and the opposition have urged voters to flock to the polls to express their rejection of violence. Although the killer confessed to killing Abe because he blamed him for supporting a religious group to which his mother had donated all her money, not for political reasons, these elections were democracy’s answer to terrorism, which kind of. And as if he were a samurai copy of Cid Campeador, they gave Shinzo Abe his last win even after he died.
Source: La Verdad
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