A key architect of political reforms three decades ago lamented that even the best-laid plans for the single-seat constituency system introduced for Lower House elections have gone astray. 

Yohei Kono, former president of the Liberal Democratic Party, said the system, aimed at allowing voters to choose their representatives by virtue of their political parties and policies, has not lived up to expectations. 

“There were profound differences from what we had originally anticipated,” Kono, who agreed to the political reforms with then Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa in January 1994, told a meeting on June 19.

A key goal of the political reforms was to enable two major political parties to take turns at the helm of the government through elections. 

Kono, who became LDP president after his party lost power in the 1993 Lower House election, was invited to speak at a closed-door session of a committee of ruling and opposition lawmakers discussing the Lower House election system.

LDP Lower House member Ichiro Aisawa, who chairs the committee, briefed reporters on the discussions after the meeting, including Kono’s comments. 

“We were determined to usher in politics driven by people’s preference for political parties and policies,” Kono was quoted as saying. “But when we take a look at politics in action 30 years on, I cannot help but feel that there is a gap as to whether the public is allowed to choose political parties and policies.”

Until the Lower House election in 1993, the multiple-seat constituency system was in place and three to five candidates generally won seats from the same electoral district.

Under the single-seat constituency system introduced from the subsequent 1996 election, one candidate is elected from each electoral district.

In each district, only one candidate is allowed to run from one political party.

Voters effectively choose a candidate based on the political party they belong to, rather than their individual strengths.

The political reforms were partly aimed at addressing problems associated with the multiple-constituency system, under which the LDP’s intraparty cliques vied to win over voters through pork-barreling and also formed collusive ties with interest groups.

Proponents said the single-seat constituency system would allow a political party’s leadership to exercise greater authority on such matters as endorsing election candidates, which was expected to result in politics led by political parties, rather than intraparty factions.

While the Democratic Party of Japan ousted the LDP from power in 2009, the LDP has been in control of the government since it returned to power in 2012 due partly to a fragmented opposition.

“Under the current election system, (many lawmakers) continue to hold seats once they win in an election,” said Soichiro Okuno, a Lower House member of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, after the committee meeting. “A change of government is unlikely to occur.”

Kono previously also took a dim view of regime change through a two-party system, citing the “diversified needs of the public.”

Under the current system, candidates who lost in a single-seat constituency can still gain a seat through the proportional representation portion if they are listed in that segment as well.

Kono told the June 19 meeting that it is necessary to see if the system that allows candidates to enter both the single-seat constituency competition and the proportional representation portion is supported by voters, according to Aisawa.

The participants also discussed voter turnout, which has been generally on the decline since the single-seat constituency system was introduced.

“Now that nearly 30 years have passed since the political reforms, it is necessary to review the election system again with an open mind,” Motohisa Furukawa, the Diet affairs chief of the Democratic Party for the People, told reporters after the committee meeting.

Still, there is generally little appetite among politicians toward reforming the election system.

The committee will hear from Hosokawa, who led a non-LDP coalition government, at a meeting on June 26.