A senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker has said there is no possibility that the Constitution's war-renouncing Article 9 will be changed, even if pro-revision forces win a two-thirds majority in Sunday's Upper House election — a claim that was immediately blasted by the main opposition Democratic Party.
During a TV program Tuesday, LDP Vice President Masahiko Komura said "there is zero possibility" that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would try to revise Article 9 even if the pro-revision lawmakers secure more than two-thirds of the 242-seat chamber. Such a majority is a prerequisite for initiating a national referendum on amending the Constitution.
Komura said Abe has repeatedly said that the "understanding of the nation" has yet to be acquired for any such revision. Talks about revising the pacifist charter amid the Upper House campaign are "a kind of demagoguery," Komura said.
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