Bitter victory for the coalition led by Premier Shinzo Abe in Japan. The Liberal Democrats, together with Komeito, a center-right party, managed to obtain a majority in the new Senate, winning 71 of the 124 available seats. A result which, however, disappoints expectations and above all makes the path to be taken to amend the Constitution of peace in force since 1947 much more difficult.
Abe was aiming for an iron majority that would allow him to carry forward the constitutional reform without worries which plans to loosen the limits established by Article 9, recognizing a wider role for the self-defense forces and abolishing the mandatory nature of pacifism.
A historic change for Japan: the effectiveness of the defense forces is in fact limited by the Peace Constitution that the US occupation forces imposed on defeated Japan after the Second World War.
To make it through unhindered, the coalition led by Abe would have had to approach the sthe two-thirds amount needed to implement the revision of the Fundamental Charter. With the result of the polls however, the Premier will need to find further alliances for any change. It should be emphasized that, even if two-thirds of Parliament (both the Senate and the Chamber) vote in favour, the constitutional amendment will have to be submitted to a popular referendum.
"We have obtained a new mandate to continue our policies and now we hope that the other parliamentary forces want to discuss such a vital issue as that of the reform of the Constitution", said Abe after the results.
