House of Representatives reduced by 31, bill submitted; Liberal-Kokuto aims to pass in the current Diet session

On the 12th, the Liberal Democratic Party, Japan Restoration Party, and Democratic Party of Japan jointly submitted a bill to the House of Representatives to reduce the number of members of the House of Representatives. The mainstay is a decrease of 31 seats in proportional representation. The aim is to pass the bill during the current Diet session, and the Special Committee on Political Reform will begin deliberating it next week.

Proportional, 2 to 5 reduction in each bloc, review of House of Representatives quota, submission of independence and national independence

Reducing the number of quotas is a focus of the current Diet session, along with the consumption tax cut. There are deep-rooted objections to unilaterally proceeding with a review of the electoral system, which is the ``foundation of democracy,'' and opposition parties other than the People's Democratic Party are objecting.

Prior to the bill's submission, the people in charge of electoral system reform from the three Liberal Democratic Party parties met in the Diet and formally agreed on the contents of the bill. Former Liberal Democratic Party Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said, ``We will work together to pass the bill.''

The bill reduces the proportionate proportion of the 465 seats in the House of Representatives from the current 176 to 145, based on population estimates for 2030 compared to 2015. The Chugoku and Shikoku blocks will be merged into a total of 10 blocks. The method of allocating seats will be changed from the current ``D'Hondt method'' to the ``modified Sanlag method,'' which is considered advantageous to small and medium-sized parties.

The criteria for candidates who lost in single-seat constituencies to be reelected on a proportional basis will be tightened from ``one-tenth'' to ``one-sixth'' of the total number of valid votes cast. In order to make it easier to nominate proportional candidates, the return amount of deposits will be increased from ``2 times'' to ``2.5 times'' the amount of 6 million yen multiplied by the number of proportional candidates.