Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be taking a big risk if he pushes through a dramatic change in security policy despite objections from most citizens, who want a better explanation for why the change is needed, a top opposition figure has said.

Abe¡¯s ratings have slipped over the security policy shift, which could let Japanese troops fight abroad for the first time since Japan¡¯s defeat in World War II, and which he hopes to enact into law in the current Diet session, which has been extended until Sept. 27.

The ruling bloc has a majority that would allow it to enact Abe¡¯s bills. But any perception of high-handedness could erode support further even as the prime minister eyes re-election as head of his Liberal Democratic Party in September.

¡°Ultimately, it depends on public opinion,¡± Katsuya Okada, head of the main opposition force, the Democratic Party of Japan, said in an interview on July 7 when asked if Abe¡¯s bloc could be kept from forcing a vote in the Lower House.

That step could come as soon as this week.

¡°Pressure on the administration is mounting,¡± said Okada, a former foreign minister.

Abe¡¯s support fell 3 points, to 42 percent in a Mainichi newspaper survey published last week.

Sixty-one percent of respondents opposed passage of legislation in the current session to end the ban on exercising the right of collective self-defense, or militarily aiding a friendly country under attack.

¡°Basically, I think we face a choice between two paths,¡± Okada added. Will we stick to the pacifism of the Constitution or become a ¡®normal¡¯ country?¡±

Conservatives say Japan¡¯s postwar Constitution puts limits on the nation¡¯s ability to defend itself that are too severe. Proponents say it has kept the nation at peace, and reinterpreting it outside formal amendment procedures sets a dangerous precedent.

Okada, 61, acknowledged Japan faces a tough security climate and said collective self-defense might be a future option.

But conditions set in the bills were too abstract and there was a high likelihood it violates the Constitution¡¯s pacifist Article 9, he said.

Some analysts say Abe¡¯s ratings could slip as much as 10 points if the bills go through, possibly encouraging a rival to challenge him in the LDP leadership race.

But the Democrats, ousted in 2012 after three rocky years in power, have made few gains. Seven percent backed the DPJ in the Mainichi poll, versus 31 percent for the LDP.