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| Prime Minister Abe |
TOKYO, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Japan's main opposition party on Thursday described Abe's push to amend the nation's pacifist constitution for the first time since the end of World War II as being "a serious infringement on the legislative process."
Following Abe making a televised address recently announcing his intention to amend a key pacifist clause of the nation's charter to legitimize the existence of the Self-Defense Forces by 2020, the main opposition Democratic Party has claimed Abe has intervened in the parliamentary process.
At the first lower house commission on constitutional issues convened Thursday since Abe made the proposal, the Democratic Party insisted Abe retract his proposal.
"It is the Diet that has the right to initiate a constitutional revision. Prime Minister Abe's remarks have therefore been a serious infringement on the legislative process," said Masaharu Nakagawa, a lower house member.
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