Last year's House of Councilors election was ``unconstitutional'' 3.13 times higher, first after constituency merger - ``1 vote disparity'' ruling, Supreme Court Grand Bench

The Grand Bench of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Yukihiko Imazaki) ruled on the 11th in an appeals court ruling in 16 cases in which two groups of lawyers sought to invalidate last July's House of Councilors election, in which the ``one-vote disparity'' was at most 3.13 times. The invalidation claim was dismissed.

Majority opinion of 10 out of 15 judges. The other five approved it as constitutional. This is the first time the Supreme Court has ruled an Upper House election unconstitutional since the 2013 election, when the maximum disparity was 4.77 times, and the first time since the introduction of ``joint constituencies,'' which combine electoral districts. In the past three times, when the disparity was in the 3-fold range, the constitutionality of the bill had been judged consecutively.

Last year's House of Councilors election was held under the same framework as the previous election in 2022, when the two constituencies of Tottori/Shimane and Tokushima/Kochi were maintained, and the maximum disparity was 3.03 times. The main focus was on how to evaluate the Diet's efforts to rectify disparities.