Economic reformer Japanese PM Abe has a two thirds supermajority will mean reactors restarts and more reform

Japan’s governing parties have won a two-thirds majority in the Lower House election.

The Liberal Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and its coalition partner, Komeito, garnered 326 seats, one more than a two-thirds majority, in the 475-seat Lower House.

A two-thirds majority in the chamber will allow the re-enactment of bills rejected by the Upper House. A two-thirds majority in the Lower House also makes it possible to propose amending the Constitution.

Prime Minister Abe told NHK that he will give top priority to the economy and pursue economic diplomacy to heighten Japan’s status. He said he will enact legislation regarding security in the next Diet session to protect the people’s lives.

Abe is expected early next year to give final approval to the restart of two nuclear reactors. Abe will likely move to restart two dozen of the 48 operable nuclear reactors in Japan.

Military Policy

Victory on Sunday will allow further loosening the political shackles on Japan’s self-defence forces – actually a highly trained, well-equipped army, navy and air force. Japan’s conservative leader has abandoned – for now – his quest to revise the US-authored constitution, which restricts Japan’s military to a strictly defensive role. Instead, he is expected to introduce legislation that will re-interpret the war-renouncing clause of the constitution to lift the postwar ban on collective self-defence. In practical terms, that would allow troops to come to the aid of an ally under attack – most likely the US – and fight on foreign soil for the first time since the end of the second world war.