A high court on Tuesday ruled the July Upper House election constitutional, delivering the first such decision in a series of lawsuits on the disparity in vote values.
Dismissing the case, presiding Judge Hajime Yoshida of the Takamatsu High Court said in the ruling that the vote-value disparity of up to 3.08 times between the most and least represented constituencies "has not reached a level at which it cannot be overlooked."
The decision was in contrast with two preceding rulings on the same issue that concluded the gap was "in a state of unconstitutionality."