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2013 December 4 - 10 [POLITICS]

Hiroshima court rules Upper House election to be unconstitutional

The Hiroshima High Court on December 5 ruled that the July Upper House election was in a “state of unconstitutionality” due to excessive vote-value disparities, but turned down the request to nullify the election results.

This judgment came out in one of the lawsuits that two lawyers’ groups had filed with 14 high courts and their branches demanding the nullification of the election results of all constituencies in the July House of Councilors election. This ruling was made following the first ruling made last month.

The court, while recognizing that disparities in vote weights were unconstitutional, stated that the election results are valid because Diet efforts were underway to reduce the disparities.

The lawyers’ group on the same day held a news conference in Hiroshima City. Lawyer Kanao Tetsuya pointed out, “Today’s judgment was significantly watered down from the previous one” made at the Hiroshima High Court Okayama Branch on November 28 ruling that the July election was unconstitutional and invalid.

Past related articles
> Court: July Upper House election invalid due to vote-value disparity [November 29, 2013]
> Supreme Court judges voting inequalities as unconstitutional [October 18, 2012]