Hiroshima Court Rules Japan Lower House Poll Constitutional

Tokyo, May 26 (Jiji Press)–Hiroshima High Court on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of the election of Japan’s House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, in February, in which vote-value disparities stood at up to 2.1 times. The court in Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, rejected two lawsuits, filed separately by a group of lawyers and another, both of which sought to void the results of the Feb. 8 general election. The plaintiffs plan to file appeals with the Supreme Court. Those were the sixth and seventh rulings in a total of 16 lawsuits filed by the two groups with the 14 high courts and high court branches in the nation. All rulings have so far found the election constitutional in terms of vote-value disparities. In the suit filed by one of the groups led by lawyer Michihiko Misao, Presiding Judge Masayuki Suenaga at the Hiroshima court said that the so-called Adams seat-allocation formula, which gives greater weight to population ratios, “has rationality.” Noting that only 16 single-seat constituencies logged vote-value gaps of over two times compared with the least populous constituency in the election, the judge said, “The degree of disparity cannot be described as severe.” The court turned down the other lawsuit, filed by a group led by lawyer Hidetoshi Masunaga, on similar grounds. The country has a total of 289 single-seat constituencies for the Lower House. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]