The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Headquarters for the Promotion of Revision to the Constitution ended on Feb. 19 its solicitation of proposals from Diet members on the envisioned provision on the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in the Constitution. Hiroyuki Hosoda, who chairs the headquarters, plans to reach a consensus on the proposal by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (LDP president) calling for retaining Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 9 by the time the party holds its convention on March 25, but issues still remain on the actual wording of the provision.

According to an LDP source, dozens of proposals were received. These proposals and those submitted after the deadline will be discussed at a plenary meeting of the headquarters in late February.

The proposals received can be roughly classified into those favoring retaining Paragraph 2, which stipulates that Japan will not maintain war potential, and those advocating the deletion of this paragraph. The focus of debate from now on will be how the actual provision will affect the scope of the use of force allowed under the existing Constitution.

Constitutional revision schedule envisioned by the LDP

(Abridged)