November 26, 2015
The Supreme Court on November 25 ruled that the 2014 House of Representatives election was in a “state of unconstitutionality” as the maximum vote-value disparity was 2.13 to 1 and urged the Diet to take measures to address this issue without delay.
The plaintiffs, two groups of lawyers, argued that the general election held in December 2014 was unconstitutional and invalid on the grounds that the largest single-seat constituency had a 2.13 times larger population than the smallest one. They demanded the nullification of the election results. The court agreed with their argument but dismissed their demand to nullify.
Prior to this, the Supreme Court gave a “state of unconstitutionality” ruling to the two general elections held in 2009 and 2012.
On the same day, commenting on the ruling, Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji (House of Representatives) said that it was the third time that the Top Court strongly criticized this serious flaw in the current election system for violating the constitutional principle of electoral equality.
Kokuta went on to say that it is impossible to thoroughly redress the unreasonable vote-value disparities between single-seat constituencies under the current system as seen by the fact that no measures have been implemented to narrow the gap since the small electoral district system was introduced in 1995.
The JCP lawmaker stressed that the single-seat constituency system should be abolished as it creates a vast amount of so-called wasted votes. He added that the JCP proposes that the election system be changed into one centering on the proportional representation system which better reflects voters’ choices.
Past related articles:
> 25 million votes ‘wasted’ in general election under single-seat constituency system [December 24, 2014]
> Top court finds voting disparities ‘unconstitutional’ [November 21, 2013]
The plaintiffs, two groups of lawyers, argued that the general election held in December 2014 was unconstitutional and invalid on the grounds that the largest single-seat constituency had a 2.13 times larger population than the smallest one. They demanded the nullification of the election results. The court agreed with their argument but dismissed their demand to nullify.
Prior to this, the Supreme Court gave a “state of unconstitutionality” ruling to the two general elections held in 2009 and 2012.
On the same day, commenting on the ruling, Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji (House of Representatives) said that it was the third time that the Top Court strongly criticized this serious flaw in the current election system for violating the constitutional principle of electoral equality.
Kokuta went on to say that it is impossible to thoroughly redress the unreasonable vote-value disparities between single-seat constituencies under the current system as seen by the fact that no measures have been implemented to narrow the gap since the small electoral district system was introduced in 1995.
The JCP lawmaker stressed that the single-seat constituency system should be abolished as it creates a vast amount of so-called wasted votes. He added that the JCP proposes that the election system be changed into one centering on the proportional representation system which better reflects voters’ choices.
Past related articles:
> 25 million votes ‘wasted’ in general election under single-seat constituency system [December 24, 2014]
> Top court finds voting disparities ‘unconstitutional’ [November 21, 2013]
