Japan PM to seek support for constitution change

TOKYO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed today to revise the country's pacifist constitution and said he would seek voter support for the change in this year's national election, a crucial test of whether he stays in power.

Abe said he was determined to lead his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to victory in the upper house election to be held in July, a contest seen as a tough fight for the Japanese leader whose public support ratings have declined.

''My cabinet will aim to revise the constitution and I intend to seek support for it during the upper house election,'' Abe told a New Year's news conference.

''As for the election, I will face it with determination to achieve victory as the president of the LDP and as the one responsible for the cabinet.'' Abe added that he had no plans to call a snap election for the lower house to coincide with the upper house polls.

Abe, who took office in September, has been hit by a string of scandals involving hand-picked appointees, and today he had to deny wrongdoing by a cabinet minister.

The Asahi Shimbun reported this week that Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka may have tried to influence the government to approve as a nonprofit organisation a group that had donated to him and that is affiliated with a firm under investigation for suspected investment law violations.

Abe, 52, had enjoyed support ratings of around 65 percent when he took office, but the figure has since fallen below 50 percent, according to surveys by Kyodo news agency.

The prime minister, who has made constitutional revision a key policy plank, said he would seek to legislate procedures to do so in a session of parliament due to convene this month.

The ruling LDP in 2005 released its draft for a new constitution that would recognise Japan's right to maintain a military, currently banned under the 1947 constitution drawn up by U S Occupation authorities just after World War Two.

Japan abandoned the right to wage war or maintain a military under Article Nine of its constitution, but the article has been interpreted to allow forces for self-defence.

Revising the constitution will be a difficult task as it requires approval of two-thirds of both houses of parliament and then a majority of the voters in a referendum.

Surveys have shown that voters are evenly split between those for and against changing the constitution.

REUTERS PDM BS1009