Japan parliament approves bill to revise referendum law

Japan's House of Councilors on Friday passed a bill to revise the referendum law as part of effort to achieve Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's goal to amend the pacifist Constitution, local media reported.

The bill, endorsed by the House of Representatives on May 9, will lower the voting age to 18 from the current 20 four years after the revised law takes effect. The Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party voted against it.

The approved bill also allows civil servants to take part in organizational efforts to rally support for or opposition to proposed constitutional amendments.

Under the current Article 96 of Japan's pacifist Constitution, constitutional amendments require two-thirds support in both the Upper and the Lower House of Parliament, and must be ratified by a national referendum. Abe wanted to loosen the requirements, making a simple majority in both houses sufficient to enact constitutional amendments.

Nevertheless, amending the pacifist Constitution, which has never been revised since its promulgation in 1946, has drawn criticism both domestically and abroad, largely due to Abe's political stance.

His efforts to lift the ban on exercising collective self- defense right by reinterpreting the Constitution and expanding arms exports have aroused concerns of neighboring countries such as China and South Korea, which suffered from Japan's wartime aggression.