No progress in corrections ``hard to overlook'' 10 years after district merger, heavily judged - 1-vote disparity lawsuit

The ``one-vote gap'' in the House of Councilors election has shrunk by up to three times since the 2016 election, when joint constituencies were introduced, but no progress has been made since then. The Supreme Court's ruling on the 11th took seriously the fact that the debate in the Diet had not made any progress for about 10 years, and strongly called for correction, saying that it "can no longer be overlooked."

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

The last time the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional was in the 2013 election, when the largest disparity was 4.77 times. In response to this, the National Diet amended the Public Elections Act to increase the number of seats by 10 and reduce it by 10, including the two constituencies of Tottori/Shimane and Tokushima/Kochi. In the 2016 election, the disparity was 3.08 times, and the Supreme Court recognized the reduction in disparity and ruled it constitutional, and upheld the ruling in the 2019 election.

However, the Supreme Court's ruling that upheld the constitutionality of the 2022 elections positioned rectifying disparities as an "urgent issue" and strongly urged the Diet to amend the law. The current ruling cited this and took issue with the fact that, nearly 10 years after the introduction of the combined districts, discussions have stalled and there are no prospects for further corrective measures. It was concluded that the situation was unconstitutional.

Regarding the issue of combined districts, there is increasing talk in the Diet of dissolving the issue, due to factors such as declining voter turnout in the target prefectures. However, in a supplementary opinion, Judge Michiharu Hayashi, who ruled that the system was unconstitutional, expressed doubts about the Diet's discussion, saying, ``If we are to consider dissolving the combined districts, it is essential to introduce some kind of measures to rectify disparities, but no concrete consideration has been given.''

On the other hand, four of the judges who ruled that the bill was constitutional, including Chief Justice Yukihiko Imazaki, expressed the understanding that a considerable amount of time and debate would be necessary before reaching a conclusion, as it would be a decision or choice that would change the form of gathering public will. However, he stated that discussions had already been going on for quite some time and the time had come to reach a conclusion, and urged corrections by setting a deadline, saying, ``Legislative measures are required in time for the next election.''