The Fukuoka High Court's Miyazaki branch ruled Friday that the results of the House of Representatives election last December, held despite a vote weight disparity as high as 2.13 times, was "in a state of unconstitutionality" — a phrase describing a situation just short of outright unconstitutionality.
However, the high court rejected a demand by plaintiffs in Miyazaki and Kagoshima to nullify the results in all eight single-seat electoral districts in the two prefectures.
The lawsuit is one of 17 filed mainly by two groups of lawyers at 14 high courts and branches across the country over the disparity, which effectively gives people in some regions more voting power.