Japan lawmakers to establish constitution referendum committee News
Japan lawmakers to establish constitution referendum committee

[JURIST] Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) [official website in English], its coalition partner the New Komeito Party [official website in English] and its largest opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan [official website in English], agreed Wednesday to establish a standing constitutional referendum committee in the House of Representatives. Establishing the committee is the first step towards altering Japan's constitution [text], as the document requires a national referendum on proposed changes and Japan has yet to create legislation establishing such a procedure. Following last week's election [Japan Today report], where the LDP and New Komeito Party won 296 and 31 seats, respectively, of the 480 in the lower house, the push to revise the country's pacifist constitution [Mainichi report] is expected to increase. The LDP released a draft of Constitution revisions [JURIST report] in July and plans to release a full draft in November. Xinhua has more.

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