Japan Press Weekly

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2015 March 18 - 24 [POLITICS]

Court allows ‘vote-value disparity’ in 2014 general election

The Tokyo High Court on March 19 rejected lawyers’ argument that “vote-value disparities” in the House of Representatives election last December were unconstitutional.

This is the first ruling among 14 similar lawsuits pending across Japan.

The 2014 general election took place with the vote-value disparity of up to 2.13 to 1 left unsolved in single-seat constituencies, but the presiding judge stated that the disparity in the value of a single vote in that election “is hardly deemed to have violated the Constitution requiring vote-value equality”.

In the 2012 general election, the vote weight discrepancy between the least and the most populated constituency was 2.43:1. Regarding this disproportionate vote value, all the 17 lawsuits regarded it to be either unconstitutional or exhibiting a state of unconstitutionality. The Supreme Court also judged it to exhibit a state of unconstitutionality.

Representative of the plaintiffs, lawyer Masunaga Hidetoshi, at a press conference criticized the most recent court decision for approving the unequal weight of votes in single-seat electoral districts.

Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji issued a comment stating that “it is extremely unfair” to rule it to be constitutional.

In the comment, Kokuta demanded that the single-seat election system be abolished as it distorts the public will, and that one centering on the proportional representation system be implemented as this would most accurately reflect diverse public demands in Diet seats.

Past related articles:
> Courts rule vote-value disparities in latest general election unconstitutional [March 28, 2013]
> High court rules 2012 voter disparity unconstitutional [March 7, 2013]