Photo/Illutration The Hiroshima High Court (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The issue of voter disparity in national elections is one that has been waged in courts across Japan for decades, always with the same result: That an election was held in a state of unconstitutionality or it wasn’t.

A series of 16 rulings handed down as of March 9 with regard to the October 2021 Lower House election that kept the Liberal Democratic Party in power showed that high courts or their branches still remain deeply divided on the matter.

The lawsuits involved two groups of lawyers demanding that the outcome of that election be annulled on grounds that a continuing disparity in the value of a vote is in breach of the Constitution.

In the election, held shortly after Yoshihide Suga’s sudden resignation as prime minister, the disparity in the value of a vote between the least and most populated districts per Lower House member came to 2.08. The Constitution provides for equality in the value of a vote.

Nine of the verdicts ruled that the election outcome was constitutional, while the remaining seven decreed it was held in “a state of unconstitutionality,” one step short of being unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue an integrated judgement on the issue by the end of the year.

The Takamatsu High Court, the first to hand down a ruling on the October election, concluded Feb. 1 it was held in “a state of unconstitutionality.”

The Hiroshima High Court, the last to rule on the matter, concluded the election was constitutional.

“A disparity that is only slightly more than double cannot be said to be in breach of (the Constitution that provides for) equality in the value of a vote,” Presiding Judge Kunihiko Yokomizo stated March 9.

The disparity in the value of a vote remains a constant concern because Diet efforts to address zoning of voting districts cannot keep up with changes in the number of voters per Diet member, which fluctuates on a daily basis.

In the October election, the number of voters per Diet member was the smallest in Tottori Prefecture’s No. 1 district with about 230,000, which compared with the largest in Tokyo’s No. 13 district at about 480,000.

In actuality, this meant that the value of a single vote in Tottori Prefecture’s No. 1 district was twice more than that of two votes in Tokyo’s No. 13 district.

In addition, the value of one vote in 29 voting districts, mainly in urban areas of all 289 districts nationwide, was less than half of that in Tottori Prefecture’s No. 1 district.

Lawyers have filed similar lawsuits since 1962 following each Upper or Lower House election.

When the Supreme Court found that the Lower House election in 1972 was unconstitutional, it marked the first time it decided an election was in breach of the Constitution on grounds of a disparity in the value of a vote. The disparity in that election was 4.99.

But no annulment of the outcome was handed down.

Since then, the Diet has tinkered with the system each time court rulings were issued, but to little effect.

For the integrated judgement, the Grand Bench of the Supreme Court will give its verdict after all 15 justices give an opinion.

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