英字新聞

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 17
EDITORIAL: Abe’s silence on Constitution suggests another election trick
（社説）参院選　改憲の是非　正面から問わぬ不実

Parties have effectively started campaigning for the July 10 Upper House election, with their leaders delivering speeches on the streets and their platforms now available to the public.
　各政党の党首らが街頭演説に繰り出し、公約も出そろって参院選は事実上スタートした。

Conspicuously missing from the ruling camp’s campaign is the argument for constitutional amendments.
　その中で、与党側からぱったり聞こえなくなったのが、憲法改正をめぐる議論である。

It is widely known that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s biggest political goal is to revise the postwar Constitution.
　安倍首相の最大の政治目標が憲法改正であるのは周知の事実だ。

During the latest Diet session, Abe repeatedly expressed his desire to pursue this goal. “I intend to seek public support during the campaign for the Upper House election,” he said. “I wish to achieve (the goal) while I’m in office.”
先の国会では「参院選でも訴えていきたい」「私の在任中に成し遂げたい」と強い意欲を何度も示してきた。

But Abe has not referred to the issue even once in his campaign speeches so far.
　ところが、これまでの街頭演説では一切、触れていない。

In sharp contrast, Katsuya Okada, president of the main opposition Democratic Party, has made the issue a top priority in his campaign strategy.
Okada has clearly expressed his party’s opposition to Abe’s bid to revise war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution as one of the party’s two central campaign promises and discussed the issue with great vigor in his speeches.
　民進党の岡田代表が、安倍政権による９条改正反対を公約の２本柱のひとつに掲げ、街頭演説でも力を込めて訴えているのとは対照的だ。

The proposal to amend the Constitution is a grave political issue the Japanese public has never faced as a real possibility in the postwar era.
　憲法改正は、日本国民が戦後経験したことのない極めて大きな政治テーマだ。

If Abe wants to achieve this goal, he should cast the proposal as a principal campaign topic.
それを実行したいなら、最大の争点と位置づけてしかるべきだ。

However, Abe has been oddly quiet about this issue, a radical change from his eloquence in arguing for the initiative.
　それなのに、首相は国会中の雄弁とは打って変わって口をつぐむ。

If he is trying to prevent the touchy issue from becoming a major campaign topic, he should be accused of acting in an insincere manner.
この姿勢は不可解であり、争点隠しの意図があるなら不誠実と言わざるを得ない。

In a 26-page booklet on its campaign platform, the LDP refers to constitutional amendments only in the last two items.
　自民党が公約で憲法改正について触れているのは、２６ページの冊子の末尾の２項目だ。

The party only discusses the issue in regard to the two new combined constituencies created by combining two prefecture-based electoral districts to narrow vote-value disparities. These constituencies will be introduced in the Upper House election.
The LDP pledges to reassess the appropriateness of the method and explore options to eliminate such cross-prefecture constituencies, including a constitutional amendment.
“We will promote debate on the issue at the Commissions on the Constitution at both (Diet) houses and seek cooperation with other parties while trying to build broad public consensus for constitutional amendments,” the party’s platform says.
　この参院選から導入される、県境をまたぐ合区を解消するため、「憲法改正を含めそのあり方を検討します」とうたい、次に「衆議院・参議院の憲法審査会における議論を進め、各党との連携を図り、あわせて国民の合意形成に努め、憲法改正を目指します」と記している。

These passages appear to suggest that the LDP plans to start its constitutional amendment initiative with changes to provisions related to combined constituencies.
But LDP policy chief Tomomi Inada has not endorsed this view, saying there are various opinions about the approach.
　合区の解消から改憲に取り組むのかと思いきや、稲田政調会長は「そこはさまざまな考え方がある」とはっきりしない。

The LDP has thus left it unclear to voters which constitutional provisions it will try to change and in what ways.
　これでは憲法改正といってもどの条文を、どのように改正するのか、有権者には相変わらずわからないままだ。

The LDP’s junior coalition partner, Komeito, doesn’t even touch on constitutional amendments in its campaign platform.
Komeito chief Natsuo Yamaguchi has said amendments will not be a key campaign topic for the Upper House election because “there has been no mature debate” on the issue.
　一方、自民党と連立を組む公明党は、公約で憲法改正に触れていない。山口代表は「議論が成熟しておらず、参院選の争点にはならない」と説明する。

Neither the LDP nor Komeito is willing to make a straightforward appeal to the public to support the proposal to rewrite the Constitution.
　自民、公明の両与党とも、国民に正面から憲法改正を問おうとしない。

Under these circumstances, even if the two parties and their political allies win the two-thirds majority in the chamber needed to initiate the formal process of constitutional revision, they must not be allowed to start pursuing the initiative with sudden zeal after the election.
それで両党とその補完勢力で改憲発議に必要な３分の２の議席を得たとしても、改憲論議を一気に進めることが許されるはずがない。

The Abe administration has a history of deliberately sidestepping debate on divisive policies during election campaigns. After the ruling camp wins a majority, however, the administration suddenly starts pushing through such policies by claiming it has won a public mandate to do so.
The state secrets protection law and new national security legislation, which were enacted in 2013 and 2015, respectively, are two examples of the administration’s sneaky way to achieve its policy goals.
　安倍政権はこれまで、世論が割れる政策については選挙の際に多くを語らず、選挙で勝てば一転、「信任を得た」とばかりに突き進む手法をとってきた。特定秘密保護法や安全保障関連法の制定がその例だ。

The four kanji characters representing “constitutional amendments” are written in small print at the end of the LDP’s campaign platform. They may be a sign of the party’s intention to use such tactics again to push through its initiative to amend the Constitution. We should not allow the party to do so.
　公約の末尾に小さく書かれた「憲法改正」の４文字。これを、同様の手法を繰り返す伏線とさせるわけにはいかない。