Japan's Sunday elections are key to Shinzo Abe's plan to roll back Article 9 of Japan's pacifist constitution, but surveys point to lukewarm public interest in the race and expectations of low-voter turnout
A pedestrian walks in front of the upper house election posters in Tokyo on July 20, 2019, one day before the voting starts. Toshifumi KITAMURA / AFP
Opinion polls suggest his Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito are likely to win a majority, mostly due to a lacklustre opposition. Abe's ruling coalition is forecast to win a solid majority of the 124 seats contested in the election, according to pre-election surveys. Abe is also hoping that his coalition and a loose group of conservatives from smaller opposition parties can grab a two-thirds majority in the upper house, giving him the support to move ahead with plans to amend the constitution's provisions on the military.
The provisions, imposed by the US forces after World War II, are popular in the public at large, but reviled by nationalists like Abe, who see them as outdated and punitive.
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