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Shinzo Abe is about to become the Japanese prime minister serving the country – and achieving his goal of revising the country's pacifist constitution – after being comfortably re-elected president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. [LDP] Thursday.
Abe's victory – taking 553 votes out of a total of 807 – means that he is assured of continuing to hold the post of prime minister and should use his mandate to move forward with controversial projects aimed at strengthening the legal status of the Japanese army. forces.
Speaking on the eve of the vote among LDP deputies and party members, Abe said he was determined to "build a new country together," adding, "I promise to lead a proud Japan." and full of hope to younger generations.
Abe, a conservative politician who has dedicated his political career to loosening self-defense chains after the war, easily defeated his closest rival, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who feared that the country did not have enough time to debate reform.
Abe's victory Thursday effectively extends his three-year term. S & # 39; s still in office in November 2019, he will double Taro Katsura, who was chief for 2,886 days – spread over three terms – in the early 1900s.
Abe, who survived two crony scandals, spent a tumultuous year at the end of 2006, but has not lost an election since he became prime minister in December 2012.
He quietly abandoned plans for a complete overhaul of the waiver of war clause in the constitution, insisting that he simply wanted to confirm the legality of self-defense forces, which are not recognized by the current document.
He also said that he would keep passages banning Japan from waging an aggressive war.
Article 9 of the current constitution, drafted by the US occupation forces at the end of the Second World War, renounces war and prohibits the use of force to settle international disputes.
Abe, however, redefined the role of the army in three years with the adoption of a law allowing him to participate in collective self-defense. In theory, this means that Japanese troops could help an attacked ally, even if its own territory is not threatened.
Constitutional change would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the Japanese Diet and a simple majority in a national referendum.
Any move to strengthen the status of the army could damage Abe's reputation, particularly among older voters who have an emotional attachment to pacifism in their country after the war.
According to a survey conducted by NHK public television earlier this year, 31% of respondents agreed with Abe's proposal, while 23% were opposed and 40% were undecided.
The change could also test Tokyo's relations with South Korea and China, both victims of Japanese militarism in the first half of the 20th century.
Analysts pointed out that most voters were more concerned about the economy and the decline of the population.
"They simply do not see revision as a top priority for the government and the Diet," Tobias Harris, a Japanese Teneo Intelligence expert in Washington, said, adding that constitutional revision was an "expensive distraction."
News agencies contributed to this report.
