Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dissolves the Lower House today for a Lower House election Dec. 16, which will coincide with a Tokyo gubernatorial election. Regrettably, the Lower House election will be held while the vote value between depopulated rural areas and urban areas is unequal to the point of raising a constitutional issue, due to partisan calculations by Mr. Noda, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito.
The ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the two opposition parties agreed to enact a bill to rectify the vote-value disparity by abolishing five single-seat constituencies. But it will take several months to implement this reapportionment. As a result, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the Supreme Court could nullify the results of the coming Lower House election.
The DPJ has stuck to the idea of reducing the number of Lower House members elected under proportional representation. On Thursday, Mr. Noda told the Diet that if the LDP and Komeito agree to pass a bill to cut the number of Lower House seats in next year's Diet session, he would dissolve the Diet on Friday. He also proposed cutting the salaries of Diet members by 20 percent until the number of seats is cut. The LDP and Komeito accepted Mr. Noda's call. The interests of Mr. Noda, the LDP and Komeito coincided. The LDP and Komeito want an early Lower House election because they hope to win and seize power since the approval rating of the Noda Cabinet is less than 20 percent.