Japan's parliament Monday passed and enacted into law a referendum bill on Constitution revision, marking a major step towards amending its 60-year-old national charter.

Sponsored by the ruling Democratic Party and the New Komeito party, the bill cleared the House of Councilors in a plenary session on Monday, after being approved by the House of Representatives last month.

Japan's Constitution states that any amendment is to be initiated by parliament through a concurring vote of two-thirds in both houses and then be presented to the people for endorsement by a majority vote in a referendum.

Under the new law, which is the first legislation that has established rules for such a referendum, Japanese citizens aged 18 or older are eligible to vote in a constitutional referendum. The law does not set a minimum voter turnout under which the referendum would be nullified.

It is also required that the law is to be implemented three years after its enactment and no amendment draft on the Constitution can be submitted until its implementation.

Japan's current Constitution has not been revised since it came into effect in 1947. Recent surveys showed that over half of respondents think the supreme law should be amended. However, a majority of people expressed their concerns over any changes to the war-renouncing Article 9 which says, "The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. "

Source: Xinhua