Japan Constitution Reform Likely to Be Approved After Upper House Elections

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The idea of amending Japan's constitution has been supported by a large number of lawmakers, and is likely to be approved by the upper house of the Japanese parliament after the July 10 elections, a poll revealed on Wednesday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has declared a goal of amending the post-WWII constitution. The constitutional amendments must be debated in the commissions set up in the two chambers of the Japanese parliament. A two-thirds majority in both chambers is required to initiate constitutional change, which would be followed by a nationwide referendum.

According to the poll by the Kyodo news agency, there is a possibility the constitutional revision will be approved, but it is far from certain, as over 40 percent of those polled said they were undecided on either their constituency or proportional representation votes.

On Sunday, the elections to the upper house of the Japanese parliament will be held. Last year, Japan's Supreme Court declared the situation around the vote in the lower house unconstitutional, but did not declare the election results invalid. Some observers forecast there would be early elections in the summer, but in June Abe said he would avoid "double" parliamentary elections this summer.

According to the Kyodo poll, Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and coalition partner, the Komeito party, were likely to win at least 74 of the 121 seats in the election, which exceeds the 61-seat target the prime minister has stated.

In 2014, the LDP-Komeito ruling bloc received 326 seats out of 475 in the lower house, representing an absolute majority.