Lawyers take legal action to reform Japan’s electoral system

The disparity between sparsely and more densely populated areas is too great. The system has been kept to favour rural voters and the Liberal Democratic Party, which has held power almost uninterruptedly since 1945.

Tokyo (AsiaNews) – A consensus appears to be emerging that Japan’s electoral system needs an overhaul to improve representation, following four court rulings in the past 10 days

After last year’s general elections (31 October), a group of lawyers took legal action in several districts because of a widening disparity among the country’s single-member constituencies.

In the last poll, the disparity between the smallest (largely rural) constituency (Tottori Prefecture’s No. 1) and the largest (Tokyo’s No. 13) was 2.08; this meant that in Tottori a ballot weighted more than double that in Tokyo.

The lawyers that started the campaign argue that such disparities violate the Constitution, which holds that every citizen's vote should count equally.

More courts are expected to rule by 9 March; among those that have already spoken, three have decreed that the 2019 election was held in a “state of unconstitutionality”; only in Tokyo did the high court declare the election results constitutional.

The Takamatsu High Court ruled that the disparity could not be dismissed, and that its level exceeded 2.0 in 29 constituencies (out of 289). However, this did not invalidate the election, as requested by a group of lawyers.

Now the issue moves up to the Supreme Court, which could rule by the end of the year. Japan’s highest court considered the same matter in three lower house elections in 2009, 2012 and 2014, when the disparity exceeded two to one.

The authorities eventually eliminated six constituencies and the 2017 elections (held with the same divisions as those of last October) were deemed constitutional, since the disparity had dropped to 1.98.

Japan’s parliament took further steps to ensure that election results are more representative, including the abolition of 10 largely underpopulated constituencies and adding 10 to more densely populated urban areas, but the changes have not yet been implemented.

Meanwhile, the whole issue has become a major bone of contention among political parties.

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has been historically strong in rural areas, has always favoured rural over-representation, justifying the bias by the need to give a greater voice to less developed areas.

Even after the creation of nine new constituencies in Greater Tokyo at the expense of some traditional liberal democratic strongholds, the vote disparity dropped only to 1.69, without radically changing the general layout of the pro-LDP electoral system.

Yet, even these changes have aroused discontent within the ruling party, with several senior leaders speaking out against modifying the constituencies.

The aging of the population, the economic depression of rural areas and the migration of young people in search of work to the metropolises are at the heart of the problem.

Over the next few decades, the disparity is bound to increase. Revising the electoral system to make it fairer will continue to be a challenge for Japanese democracy.

• japan
• democracy
• election
• single-member constituencies
• over-
• under-representation
• liberal democratic party
• courts
• unconstitutional