6th Ruling Finds Japan Upper House Poll in Unconstitutional State

Sendai, Miyagi Pref., Nov. 7 (Jiji Press)–A high court in Japan ruled Friday that the July 20 House of Councillors election was held “in a state of unconstitutionality” in terms of vote-value disparities between prefectural constituencies, which reached a maximum of 3.13 times. Still, Sendai High Court, in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, turned down a demand that the results of the triennial election for the upper chamber of the Diet, or parliament, be invalidated. This was the sixth ruling finding that the election took place in an unconstitutional state. It was ruled constitutional in four other verdicts. Over the election, a total of 16 lawsuits have been filed with 14 high courts and high court branches by two groups of lawyers, who claim that the election was unconstitutional because it violated the principle of the equality in the value of votes and that the election outcomes therefore should be nullified. The previous July 2022 Upper House election, in which the maximum vote-value disparity stood at 3.03 pct, has been ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court. Handing down the latest ruling, Yosuke Ishigaki, presiding judge at the Sendai court, said, “The value of each vote should be made as equal as possible,” noting that the disparity could widen further as the country’s population continues to decrease. With the Diet making no concrete moves to correct the situation, a disparity of more than three times marks “a state of extreme inequality,” the judge added. At the same time, however, the judge said the fact that the disparity had not been rectified by the time of the latest Upper House election does not necessarily go beyond the limits of the Diet’s discretionary power, so the election cannot be said outright to be unconstitutional. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]