A House of Councilors committee on Wednesday approved a bill to ease requirements for appointing poll watchers under the law on national referendums for amending the Constitution.

The bill to revise the law was backed by the ruling coalition as well as opposition parties, excluding the Japanese Communist Party and Reiwa Shinsengumi, at a meeting of the Upper House Commission on the Constitution.

The ruling bloc hopes that the bill will pass the full Upper House on Friday following last month’s approval by the House of Representatives. It is co-sponsored by the ruling coalition and the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito, both opposition parties.

The Upper House commission also adopted a supplementary resolution calling for considering and enacting necessary measures related to the use of online advertisements and artificial intelligence when campaigning for national referendums.