A court ruled Friday that the vote disparity in last October's House of Representatives election was constitutional, in the first decision among a series of lawsuits challenging the results of the general election.

The Naha branch of the Fukuoka High Court dismissed plaintiffs' call to invalidate the outcome of the election, in which a disparity in the value of votes between constituencies fell below twofold for the first time since the current system of single-seat electoral districts coupled with proportional representation was introduced in 1994.

Two groups of lawyers filed a total of 14 suits with high courts across Japan, claiming the vote gap violated constitutionally guaranteed equality and called for the nullification of the election outcome, in which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition retained a two-thirds majority.