Japanese election: Abe set to win super majority

The prime minister said he wanted to take advantage of the Bank of Japan’s zero-interest-rate-policy and issue bonds for public-private partnerships.

Many members of Japan’s military don’t anticipate becoming involved in overseas wars, expecting their work to be limited to disaster relief.

Some Japanese agree with Abe that a constitutional change is needed because of growing fears about terrorism, as well as concerns about a nuclear North Korea and China’s military assertiveness.

Abe said revising the constitution was his Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) cherished goal, but forging agreement on changes in the diverse pro-revision camp would not be easy.

The party’s vice president, Masahiko Komura, said on a television interview that there was “zero possibility” the LDP would try to change Article 9.

Two groups of lawyers on Monday mounted legal challenges to the results of Sunday’s elections in Japan, claiming that the disparity in the value of votes in different parts of the country made the poll unconstitutional.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year bonds, which moves inversely to its price rose 1/2 basis points to -0.273, short-term 2-year JGB yield rose almost 1 basis point to -0.345 percent, super-long 40-year bonds rose ½ basis points to 0.121 percent and the yield on 20-year JGB also bounced almost 1 basis point to 0.056 percent by 07:00 GMT.

“I think (voters) told us to firmly accelerate Abenomics“.

He declined to give the amount for the spending.

In a very cautious way, the prime minister said that the constitutional amendment should be discussed more.

The Liberal Democrats have ruled Japan since World War II nearly incessantly with their pro-business policies, and until recently enjoyed solid support from rural areas. The few years the opposition Democratic Party held power coincided with the 2011 quake, tsunami and nuclear disasters in northeastern Japan, and the party fell out of favor after being criticized for its reconstruction efforts.

“In the near term, the most pressing question will be finalizing a stimulus package, which will occupy the ruling coalition for the next several months”, said Tobias Harris, a Japan analyst at the political risk advisory firm Teneo Intelligence. The yen fell to 102 versus the dollar following Abe’s resounding election win and announcement of the stimulus package.

Abe said he would reshuffle his cabinet but did not say when or how. For Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, the 1947 charter is the legacy of Japan’s war defeat and an imposition of the victors’ world order and Western values.

“With Japan’s pacifist constitution at serious stake and Abe’s power expanding, it is alarming both for Japan’s Asian neighbours, as well as for Japan itself, as Japan’s militarisation will serve to benefit neither side”, it reported.

“Especially since I see economic growth as the priority, I have little hope for the opposition parties”, said Yoshihiko Takeda, a 36-year-old IT company employee. “For the future of this country, debates should be deepened, matured and integrated regarding which articles are revised and how”.

Some Japanese voters who selected opposition candidates Sunday did so less out of passion than out of protest. But I still voted for the LDP, because I don’t like the opposition parties either.

Half of the seats of the less powerful upper house, or 121 seats, were up for grabs in Sunday’s vote.