Aug. 30 general election 'unconstitutional': Osaka High Court

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OSAKA, Dec. 28 Kyodo -
The Osaka High Court determined Monday that the Aug. 30 general election that
brought the Democratic Party of Japan to power was ''unconstitutional,'' given
that the disparity in the value of a vote reached a maximum 2.30.
While rejecting a claim by an Osaka voter that the election returns in the
Osaka No. 9 constituency should be nullified, Presiding Judge Kitaru Narita
said, ''The previous House of Representatives election, in which the disparity
in vote value exceeded 2, is against the spirit of the Constitution.''
It is the first judgment of unconstitutionality since the combination of
single-seat constituencies and proportional representation voting was
introduced for lower house polls in 1996.
In the August lower house election, a vote in the Kochi No. 3 constituency,
which has the lowest number of eligible voters in the nation, was worth 2.30
times a vote in the Chiba No. 4 district, which has the highest number of
voters, according to government data.
The disparity in vote value between the Kochi No. 3 constituency and the Osaka
No. 9 district was 2.05.
Narita said in the ruling, ''It is not acceptable constitutionally for the
legislative body to leave the current situation, in which the disparity exceeds
2, as it is.''
The presiding judge added, however, the election itself is valid, because ''it
would go against the public interest if its outcome is nullified.''
It was the first ruling among eight similar suits filed by voters led mainly by
lawyers.
During the Osaka High Court hearings, the plaintiff argued that the election
failed to provide equal rights to vote to the electorate.
Takemitsu Kadono, the Osaka Prefecture election board chief, said, commenting
on the ruling, ''It is a very tough decision. We will decide what to do through
discussions with the central government.''
Ruling on the general election of September 2005, in which the disparity
reached a maximum 2.17, the grand bench of the Supreme Court determined it was
constitutional. But of the 15 justices, six offered a dissenting opinion.
On the high court ruling, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters in New
Delhi that the decision must be taken seriously but added it is still a
decision at the high court level.
Hatoyama made the remarks in the Indian capital, which he is visiting for talks
with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, after meeting with business leaders
in Mumbai.
Separately, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano told a press conference
that such an unconstitutional state of affairs is not desirable and that it is
necessary to eliminate it as soon as possible, although he did not elaborate.
Tokuji Izumi, former Supreme Court justice, said, ''Voters in overpopulated
areas like Osaka exercise only one-half the voting right compared with those in
sparsely populated districts and it is obvious such a situation is against the
Constitution.''
''The Diet needs to revise the zoning of the single-seat electoral districts by
the next general election,'' he said.
Under the public office election law, a lawsuit on the validity of a national
election should be initially filed with a high court.
==Kyodo
2009-12-28 23:32:08