Japan voters split on revising pacifist constitution

TOKYO: Voters in Japan are deeply divided over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s campaign to revise its 70-year-old pacifist constitution, according to a poll released on Wednesday, against a backdrop of growing tension in the region, particularly over North Korea.

The Nikkei Inc/TV Tokyo survey, published on the anniversary of the constitution’s enactment, showed support growing for Abe’s push to revise a charter written by the United States after Japan’s defeat in World War Two and never amended.

About 46 percent of respondents favoured keeping the constitution as it is, four percentage points lower than a similar poll last year.

The number favouring a change stood at 45 percent, up five percentage points from a year ago.

Under the constitution’s Article Nine, Japan forever renounced its right to wage war, leaving it open to interpretation whether it should maintain forces and how they could be used. (Reuters)