Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, right, smiles after the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Bill was passed into law at a House of Representatives plenary session on Friday.

Anti-terrorism bill passed into law after second vote

Antiterror bill passes after vote

A controversial anti-terrorism bill was passed into law Friday after a second vote in the House of Representatives by a majority of over two-thirds of the members present after the opposition-controlled House of Councillors voted it down.

The Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law allows the Maritime Self-Defense Force to resume its suspended mission to refuel U.S. military vessels in the Indian Ocean to help it in its fight against terrorism. The period of the mission is limited to one year, but can be extended by a year.

This is the first time in 57 years that the Diet has invoked Article 59 of the Constitution, which stipulates that a bill passed by the Lower House but rejected by the Upper House becomes law when passed a second time by the Lower House by a majority of two-thirds or more of the members present.

The bill cleared a full Lower House on Nov. 13. However, the Upper House in which the Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties have a majority voted down the bill at a plenary session on Friday.

It was then sent back to the Lower House, in which the ruling coalition has more than two-thirds of the seats, for the second vote.