EDITORIAL: Diet take note: Vote disparity issue has to be sorted out ASAP
Can the winners of the Oct. 27 Lower House election truly be called “the people’s elected representatives,” given that the ratio of the disparity in the value of votes was as large as 1 to 2.06 in one constituency?
Lawsuits have been instituted at appellate courts and their local branches around Japan, demanding that the election results be nullified because they are in violation of the constitutional guarantee of equality for all the people.
The preamble to the Constitution starts with these words: “We, the Japanese people, acting through our duly elected representatives in the National Diet ...”
If a flaw in the electoral system causes significant differences in the number of people being represented by their elected officials, the discrepancies that will eventually arise between the Diet’s majority decisions and the people’s wishes cannot be ignored.
This should be a problem for every elected lawmaker to take seriously as it concerns the........
© The Asahi Shimbun
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