The government aims to submit a bill during the regular Diet session next year to revise the Public Offices Election Law to allow eligible Japanese voters living overseas to cast ballots for candidates in national elections, a top government official said Thursday.
The comments came after the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a provision in the election law that restricts Japanese citizens living abroad from voting in Diet constituency elections is unconstitutional. Offshore voters now can only cast proportional representation votes.
"We're going to revise the law by the next Lower and Upper House elections based on the (Supreme Court's) ruling, having next year's regular Diet session in mind," Vice Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Shogo Hayashi said.