Rectify vote-value disparity

要約

The Supreme Court on Oct. 17 ruled that in the Upper House election held in July 2010, the value of a vote between depopulated rural areas and populated urban areas was extremely unequal to the point of “giving rise to an issue of unconstitutionality.” Although the ruling stopped short of declaring the election results unconstitutional, the Diet must act quickly to rectify the vote-value disparity.

The top court provided concrete suggestions concerning how to reduce the disparity so that the will of the electorate will be more closely reflected in Upper House elections. It said that increasing the number of seats in some prefectures and decreasing that in other prefectures will not suffice.
In the 12 to 3 ruling, the Supreme Court called for a drastic change of the election system, including dropping the practice of making each prefecture an electoral district. It said that the Diet must “eradicate the situation of inequality that gives rise to the issue of unconstitutionality as soon as possible.”

In 1996, the Supreme Court handed down a similar ruling concerning the July 1992 Upper House election, in which the maximum disparity in the value of a vote was 6.59 to 1. The Diet carried out reapportionment two years after the election and the maximum vote-value disparity was reduced to 4.97 to 1 in the Upper House election in July 1995. In the July 2010 Upper House election, which the top court ruling dealt with this time, the maximum disparity was 5 to 1. Apparently the court is irritated by the Diet’s slow response in rectifying the disparity. Political parties must realize the gravity of the fact that the constitutionality of the last two elections is being questioned.

The Upper House has passed a bill to increase the number of seats by four in urban areas and decrease that by four in rural areas, and it is pending in the Lower House. The Diet should immediately enact it and then start the work to drastically reform the Upper House electoral system. The Lower House must waste no time in carrying out reapportionment as a Lower House election will be held within a year.

日本語の抄訳はウィークリ11月3日号のP18に掲載されています。