The ruling coalition and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan have worked out a bill to correct defects in the existing election system. If approved by the current Diet, the proposed changes to the Public Office Election Law will apply to the next Lower House.

The 1994 amendments to that law reconstituted the Lower House into a 500-member chamber consisting of 300 single-member district seats and 200 proportional representation seats. The number of PR seats has been reduced by 20 under a bill that cleared the Diet last month with the backing of three ruling parties -- the Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and New Komeito.

The central issue has been and still is: What kind of election system can best reflect the wishes of the electorate? Is it the single-seat district system? The medium-size constituency system? The PR system? Or is it a combination of them all?