The Supreme Court in March 2011 ruled that the 2009 Lower House election, which brought the Democratic Party of Japan to power, was held in an unconstitutional state because of great disparity in the value of a vote between depopulated rural areas and populated urban areas. But it refrained from declaring the election results null and void. It is the Diet's duty to immediately rectify the situation. Although 15 months have passed since the Supreme Court ruling, consultations between the ruling and opposition parties on the matter have not produced results. As the ruling party, the DPJ should realize that its responsibility is particularly heavy.

Because the consultations did not go smoothly, the DPJ unilaterally submitted a bill to reapportion the Lower House seats to the Diet. But it mixes two goals: rectification of the disparity in the vote value and reform of the Lower House election system. This will make the consultations among the parties difficult. The DPJ should focus solely on rectifying the vote value disparity.

The bill calls for reducing the number of seats in single-seat constituencies by five and reducing the number of seats in proportional representation by 40 to reduce the number of seats in this segment from the current 180 to 140. It also calls for introducing a modified election procedure for 35 of the 140 seats, which is advantageous to smaller parties.