The Liberal Democratic Party abandoned plans Tuesday to outline its proposals for constitutional revisions in January after a draft of the outline drew fierce criticism from its own members.
The draft calls for a "military force for self-defense" and for allowing a female member of the Imperial family to ascend the throne. But it has drawn fire from the party's House of Councilors members because it also calls for the role of the Upper House caucus to be diminished.
The reported involvement of a senior Ground Self-Defense Force officer in the drafting of the party's preliminary constitutional revision outline also prompted the party executives to make a fresh start on the issue.
In a meeting Tuesday, the executives decided to set up a new drafting committee under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the LDP president, by the end of this year in place of the LDP Research Commission on the Constitution, which authored the current draft, party lawmakers said.
Koizumi urged his party colleagues not to hurry and to try to get an overall consensus in order to come up with proposals for a revised Constitution at the party's 50th anniversary in November.