LDP Moves to Accelerate Debate on Revising Japan’s Constitution, Lower House Commission to Hold First Discussion of Current Diet Session

By Jun Nakayama and Takanori Nakada / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

7:00 JST, April 3, 2026

The Liberal Democratic Party is preparing to accelerate debate on revising the Constitution as it looks ahead to the passing of the fiscal 2026 budget bill.

The Commission on the Constitution of the House of Representatives, a forum for constitutional debate, is expected to hold its first discussion of the current Diet session within the month, with the aim of narrowing down possible amendment items at an early stage.

“We will narrow down specific amendment items as quickly as possible and proceed carefully so that consensus can be built among the parties,” said Hirofumi Nakasone, head of the LDP’s Headquarters for the Realization of Revision of the Constitution, in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun on Wednesday. “Our party will also work proactively so that the public can fully understand what proposals are made for possible revisions.”

The headquarters places importance on deepening public understanding alongside constitutional debate in the Diet. It plans to step up efforts with an eye toward holding a national referendum to revise the Constitution.

The fiscal 2026 budget bill will be passed by April 11 at the latest, and debate in the lower house’s commission is likely to resume within April.

The LDP has appointed Keiji Furuya as chairman of the commission and Yoshitaka Shindo as the ruling bloc’s chief secretary there, a position tasked with coordinating with the opposition over how to run the committee. Both are influential lawmakers with strong constitutional policy credentials, a sign that the party has thoughtfully put its structure in place for debate over revision.

The Japan Innovation Party also aims to play a leading role in the discussion, centering on former party leader Nobuyuki Baba, who heads its own headquarters for the realization of constitutional revisions.

As parties work to narrow the list of proposed changes, one leading candidate is the creation of an emergency clause governing responses to major disasters and other crises. In an agreement that the LDP and the JIP reached in October to form a coalition, the two sides stated that they would aim to submit draft language for such a clause during fiscal 2026.

In the House of Representatives, the LDP holds more than the two-thirds supermajority needed to initiate a constitutional amendment proposal. In the House of Councillors, however, the ruling coalition falls short of a majority.

Some LDP members are calling for moving ahead with discussions in the lower house first.

“The House of Representatives should prepare to initiate a proposal, even if it ends in vain,” Executive Acting Secretary General Koichi Hagiuda has argued.

Opposition parties are also making preparations for a full-fledged battle of arguments.

The Centrist Reform Alliance launched its constitutional research panel on March 24 and appointed Secretary General Takeshi Shina as its chair. On Wednesday, senior panel officials met to confirm the schedule ahead.

CRA leader Junya Ogawa signaled that the party intends to carefully assess how discussions will move forward.

“Depending on what revisions [the coalition] would propose, how such revisions would be made and what aims it would have behind them, there will be a clear line between whether we can take part in discussions or not,” he said.

The Democratic Party for the People’s discussions are being led by Takanori Kawai, head of its constitutional research panel.

“We want realistic and steady debate based on the discussions that each party has built up so far,” said Yuichiro Tamaki, the party leader and himself a member of the lower house’s Commission on the Constitution, during a press conference on Tuesday.