8th Ruling Finds Japan Lower House Poll Constitutional

Tokyo, May 28 (Jiji Press)–The Okayama branch of Hiroshima High Court ruled Thursday that the Feb. 8 election for Japan’s House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, was constitutional in terms of vote-value disparities. Presiding Judge Yasuki Kinugawa at the high court branch in the western city of Okayama dismissed a petition filed by a group of lawyers led by Hidetoshi Masunaga. The plaintiffs said in the lawsuit that the results of the general election should be invalidated, claiming that the maximum vote-value disparity of 2.1 times in the election was against the Constitution’s requirement that the value of votes be equal. The largest gap in the previous Lower House general election in 2024 was smaller, at 2.06 times. But Kinugawa said that the expansion cannot be said to be significant. It was the eighth ruling on a total of 16 lawsuits filed with the 14 high courts and high court branches across the country by two groups of lawyers, including the Masunaga-led group. All rulings have so far found the election constitutional in terms of vote-value disparities. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]