Japan Press Weekly

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2011 November 23 - 29 [POLITICS]

Initiators of single-seat election system regret introducing the system

Former Prime Minister Hosokawa Morihiro in late January 1994 held talks with Kono Yohei, president of the Liberal Democratic Party at that time, and they signed an agreement to introduce a single-seat constituency system.

Seventeen years after that, they are saying in the media that they have regrets over having introduced the system.

Hosokawa says, “The results of general elections tend to overly represent one side with the single-seat election system.”

Kono says, “The present system does not work well. I apologize to the public.”

Mori Yoshiro, LDP’s secretary general at that time who was present at the Hosokawa-Kono talks, confessed in the LDP organ paper, “Ultimately, the single-seat constituency system has brought about the deterioration of politics.”

Secretary General of the Sunrise Party of Japan Sonoda Hiroyuki was an executive of the New Party Sakigake (since dissolved) at that time, which was one of the ruling parties of the Hosokawa coalition government. Sonoda just days before said, “In the 25 years of my political life, the biggest mistake I made was voting for the single-seat election system.”

Under this single-seat electoral district system, politics have become less representative, gaps between the rich and the poor have become wider, and the poverty rate has increased. Taking advantage of the system, the past governments as well as the Democratic Party of Japan government have neglected to listen to public demands.

The politicians who initiated the present election system should not only feel remorse over their role but be held politically responsible. If they make efforts for a fundamental reform towards a system which fairly represents the interests of the general public, they may be able to make up for their now acknowledged blunder.