March 28, 2013
In a series of 16 lawsuits filed with high courts across Japan over vote-value disparities in the 2012 House of Representatives general election, the last court ruling was issued on March 27. Among the 16 court rulings finding wide vote disparity in the election unconstitutional, two rulings have actually declared election results of single-seat blocs invalid.
All the rulings will be challenged in the top court and its decision will gather national attention.
Disparity in the weight of votes effectively allows that in an election, one elector casts only one vote while another casts two or more, and thus violates Article 14 of the Constitution guaranteeing people “equality under the law”.
The Japanese Communist Party has opposed the single-seat constituency election system since its introduction in 1993, pointing out the possibility that the system will more than double the gap between values of votes cast in single-member districts. In fact, in the 1995 Lower House general election, the first election held under the single-seat district system, the vote disparity was already 2.32 to 1.
The single-seat constituency electoral system is fundamentally defective because it enables a major party like the Liberal Democratic Party to win 80% of seats in the Lower House with only 40% of votes cast in single-seat districts.
In order to establish equality in the value of votes and accurately reflect people’s will in Diet representation, it is necessary to abolish the single-member system and create a democratic one centering on the proportional representation system.
Related past articles:
> High court rules 2012 voter disparity unconstitutional [March 7,2013]
All the rulings will be challenged in the top court and its decision will gather national attention.
Disparity in the weight of votes effectively allows that in an election, one elector casts only one vote while another casts two or more, and thus violates Article 14 of the Constitution guaranteeing people “equality under the law”.
The Japanese Communist Party has opposed the single-seat constituency election system since its introduction in 1993, pointing out the possibility that the system will more than double the gap between values of votes cast in single-member districts. In fact, in the 1995 Lower House general election, the first election held under the single-seat district system, the vote disparity was already 2.32 to 1.
The single-seat constituency electoral system is fundamentally defective because it enables a major party like the Liberal Democratic Party to win 80% of seats in the Lower House with only 40% of votes cast in single-seat districts.
In order to establish equality in the value of votes and accurately reflect people’s will in Diet representation, it is necessary to abolish the single-member system and create a democratic one centering on the proportional representation system.
Related past articles:
> High court rules 2012 voter disparity unconstitutional [March 7,2013]
