TOKYO, May 2 (Xinhua) -- A total of 65 percent of the Japanese people see no need to rush to debate revisions to the constitution in parliament, despite the government's push to make an amendment, a Kyodo News poll showed.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has expressed that he intends to revise the constitution during his tenure as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has been advocating constitutional revision as part of its agenda since the party was founded in the 1950s, including changing the war-renouncing Article 9.

On a question regarding Kishida's desire to revise the constitution by September when his term as party leader expires, 65 percent of the respondents said they feel "no need to rush," while only 33 percent called for expedited discussions at the Diet, Kyodo News reported on Thursday.

Japan's postwar pacifist constitution has never been revised since coming into effect in 1947, nor has a bid been made to initiate a formal amendment process.

Article 9 of the constitution renounces war and bans the possession of military forces, or anything else with "war potential." The LDP has proposed adding an explicit reference to the Self-Defense Forces into the constitution to leave no room for the argument that having armed organizations, even for self-defense, violates the pacifist charter, Kyodo News said.

Even among respondents who back the LDP, only 46 percent expressed that they recognized the "need to rush," according to the poll.

The mail-in survey was conducted between March and April ahead of the Constitution Memorial Day on Friday, targeting 3,000 people aged 18 or over, of whom 65.5 percent returned valid answers. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)