Two high courts ruled Monday that the disparity in the weight of votes in July's House of Councilors election was "in a state of unconstitutionality," but dismissed the plaintiffs' demand that poll results from a combined seven constituencies be nullified.
The plaintiffs, a group of lawyers, claim that vote-value gaps of up to 4.77-fold in the July 21 Upper House election violate the equal-protection clause of the Constitution, meaning the election should be invalidated.
The presiding judge, Hiroshi Yamashita of the Takamatsu High Court, recognized that there was "excessive inequality" in the weight of votes at the time of the election that raised the question of unconstitutionality.