Number of Japanese People Favoring, Opposing Constitution Amendment Almost Equal

The number of Japanese citizens, who support a revision of country's peaceful constitution by including in the text of the document an article legalizing existence of the Self-Defense Forces and those who oppose the initiative, is almost equal, a fresh poll showed on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to the Nikkei Inc/TV Tokyo poll, 46 percent of respondents backed keeping the constitution in its current form, while 45 percent of those surveyed favored the amendments.

The pollster pointed out that the number of proponents of constitutional changes rose by 5 percent since last year, while the number of those, who opposed the idea, decreased by 4 percent.

Earlier in the day, The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper published an interview with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who expressed hope to amend country's constitution in 2020.

The survey was conducted on April 27-29, ahead of the 70th anniversary of Japan's constitution, which is celebrated on May 3. The results of the poll are based on answers provided by 1,579 people.

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