In March 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that the August 2009 Lower House election was held in an unconstitutional state because of a large disparity in the value of one vote between depopulated rural areas and populated urban areas. Although the court did not nullify the election results, political parties must strive to quickly reduce the vote-value disparity so that the next Lower House election will be held in a constitutional state.
The possibility cannot be ruled out that Lower House will be dissolved this year, leading to a snap election. If the election is held without reapportionment, the Supreme Court may nullify the elections results, thus putting Japanese politics into confusion. In addition, Feb. 25 is the deadline for the Lower House apportionment panel in the Cabinet Office to submit a reapportionment plan to the prime minister.
In the current Lower House election system, 300 seats are distributed to single-seat constituencies and 180 seats for proportional representation. Talks among the parties on reapportionment are difficult because several factors are involved. While there is a call for narrowing the vote-value disparity without changing the basic structure of the current election system, there is also a demand for drastic reform to rectify problems resulting from the system itself.