Editorials Apr 24, 2016

Insufficient electoral reform

The ruling coalition needs to explain why the nation is still being kept waiting for the fundamental reform needed to correct the gross disparity in vote values.

National / Politics Feb 26, 2016

Census confirms population shrinkage, vote-value disparities

by Reiji Yoshida

The 2015 census is the first to confirm Japan is shrinking, but it also shows why the value of people’s votes is being warped nationwide.

National / Politics Feb 19, 2016

Abe eschews further delays, vows to cut 10 Lower House seats in line with census

by Ayako Mie

The prime minister pledges to slash 10 seats in the Diet’s House of Representatives sooner than his LDP party has proposed.

Editorials Dec 28, 2015

Time for serious electoral reform

Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers from rural areas are already gearing up to fight much-needed electoral reform to reduce the vote disparity between rural and urban areas.

National / Politics Dec 7, 2015

LDP mulls jiggering electoral districts as quick fix for vote weight disparity

A quick fix has been mooted within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to correct disparities in the weight of votes in Lower House elections, according to a senior party member. The idea to reduce disparities among single-seat districts to less than 2 to 1 by ...

Editorials Nov 27, 2015

Time to fix the vote-value disparity

Lawmakers have dallied long enough: Chastised again by the Supreme Court, it's time they got down to business and resolved the disparity in vote values between districts.

National / Politics Jul 10, 2015

LDP OKs Upper House electoral reform plan to narrow vote value gap

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has endorsed an electoral reform plan proposed by four opposition parties to reduce disparities in the weight of votes in Upper House elections, paving the way for district changes for next summer's race. The plan calls for merging constituencies with ...

Editorials May 27, 2015

Stop dragging feet on vote disparity

Political parties, especially the ruling LDP, are taking far too long to solve the deplorable disparity in the value of votes among electoral districts.

National / Crime & Legal Apr 28, 2015

12th court ruling questions constitutionality of 2014 election

The Okayama branch of the Hiroshima High Court ruled Tuesday that the results of the 2014 House of Representatives election were "in a state of unconstitutionality" due to disparities in the weight of votes between constituencies, but it rejected the plaintiffs' demand to nullify ...

National / Politics Mar 27, 2015

Fukuoka High Court doubts constitutionality of 2014 snap election

The Fukuoka High Court's Miyazaki branch ruled Friday that the results of the House of Representatives election last December, held despite a vote weight disparity as high as 2.13 times, was "in a state of unconstitutionality" — a phrase describing a situation just short ...

National / Politics Mar 26, 2015

High courts continue to issue mixed rulings on 2014 vote disparity

Japan's high courts on Thursday continued to issue mixed rulings on the constitutionality of the vote weight disparities in the 2014 lower house election, with one court questioning the validity of the poll and another ruling it constitutional. While the Osaka High Court ruled that ...