Lawsuits Filed to Void Japan Lower House Election

Tokyo, Feb. 9 (Jiji Press)–A group of lawyers filed a lawsuit Monday to nullify the results of Sunday’s House of Representatives election for all of the 289 single-seat constituencies, claiming that the election was unconstitutional in terms of vote-value disparities. The group, led by Hidetoshi Masunaga, filed the suit with a total of 14 high courts and high court branches across Japan. Another group of lawyers, including Michihiko Misao, filed a similar lawsuit the same day over some constituencies in Tokyo and the western prefecture of Hiroshima, and the Tokyo proportional representation bloc. According to the election boards across the country, the No. 3 constituency in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido had the largest number of eligible voters, at 462,088, as of Sunday. By contrast, the No. 1 constituency in the western prefecture of Tottori had the fewest voters, at 220,368. The vote-value gap between the two districts stood at 2.10 times, up slightly from the maximum disparity of 2.06 times in the previous Lower House election in 2024. There was no revision of the Lower House electoral system in the meantime. At a press conference in Tokyo on Monday, Masunaga noted that the vote-value disparity also exceeded two times between the Tottori No. 1 constituency and the No. 5 constituency in the southwestern prefecture of Fukuoka. “This is far from rational,” Masunaga said, adding, “I’m sure that the courts will rule it unconstitutional.” In September last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the 2024 Lower House election was constitutional, concluding that the vote-value gap could not be considered significant. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]