Japan Press Weekly

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2013 March 6 - 12 [POLITICS]

High court rules 2012 voter disparity unconstitutional

The Tokyo High Court on March 6 ruled that the disparity in the value of votes in single-seat constituencies in the House of Representatives election in December is unconstitutional.

The court, however, rejected plaintiffs’ demand that the election result be nullified, while acknowledging the validity of the election result as illegal.

This is the first ruling in 16 lawsuits of the kind filed at 14 high courts and branches throughout the country. Rulings are scheduled to be given in all cases by March 27.

In March 2011, the Supreme Court judged the 2.3 times disparity in the value of votes in a single-seat constituency in the 2005 Lower House election to be unconstitutional. The disparity was left untouched and increased to 2.43 times in the 2012 election.

At a press conference after the ruling, plaintiffs’ lawyer Masunaga Hidetoshi stressed that the ruling is significant. “300 lawmakers elected in single-seat blocks do not have legal validity to be part of the state power,” he added.

Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji commented that the latest ruling sheds light on the fundamental problem with the election system centering on the single-seat constituencies and went on to say as follows:

“In the 2012 House of Representatives general election, the Liberal Democratic Party obtained 80% of its seats with about 40% of votes cast in single-seat blocks, and more than 50% of votes were ‘wasted’ without any link to elected seats. It has become clear that the single-seat electoral system distorts the fairness of elections and has very undemocratic characteristics. It needs to be abolished, and the proportional-representation constituency system needs to be the center of the election system so that voters’ preferences will be reflected in the composition of the Diet.

“Discussions on an electoral system reform, taking place among the Liberal Democratic, Komei, and Democratic parties, are intended to cut even more proportional-representation seats and thus further distort the public will. This direction should never be allowed.”

On the same day, a rally calling for a better election system and the abolition of the single-seat blocks was conducted in the Diet building by representatives of 11 lawyers’, women’s, and peace organizations.