Lawyers in Japan have filed lawsuits across the country demanding that the results of Sunday’s Lower House elections be nullified, citing “unconstitutional” levels of disparity in the value of votes.
In the latest polls, one vote in the least-populated Tottori No.1 district was 2.06 times as valuable as one in the most populous Hokkaido No.3 district, despite a recent remedial redrawing of the electoral map.
In the lawsuits filed on Monday, the lawyers’ group demand that the results of races in single-seat constituencies be nullified. They said the situation is unconstitutional, as everyone should be given an equally valuable vote.
The 2021 Lower House elections had vote-value disparity as high as 2.08-to-1, but the Supreme Court ruled that it was not unconstitutional.
Ito Makoto, a member of the group, told reporters that authorities could have anticipated such a large disparity before the elections, when they were redrawing the electoral districts, because the populations in some areas were expected to drop. Ito said everyone’s vote should be equally valuable, regardless of where they live.