Lawsuits filed to void Sunday's general election over vote disparity

According to government data, the highest disparity in the weight of votes based on the number of eligible voters as of Oct. 31 was 2.08-fold between Tottori Prefecture's No. 1 constituency in southwestern Japan with 230,959 voters and Tokyo's No. 13 district with 480,247 voters.

People living in Tokyo get packed everyday in train and their apartment but it doesn't mean that people in Tokyo should get less voice compared to people in Tottori

What's the point? Swapping one set of old, rich guys for another set of old, rich guys?

Two groups of lawyers filed lawsuits across the country Monday seeking to void the results and conduct a rerun of the previous day's lower house election due to vote weight disparities created by Japan's rural-urban population imbalance.

When GHQ/ SCAP was crafting the Japanese post-war government, they must have paid special attention to gerrymandering and the LDP have picked up the ball with Japanese efficiency. Kshida will not be trying to reform this aspect of the constitution I am sure.

If the lawyers are so concerned about the vote weight disparities they should go live in the least populated area and cast their ballots there.

i don't know about the legal merits, but votes from rural areas are probably why LDP keeps winning

Until the "proportional representation" is gotten rid of, it really wont make any difference what the courts say. People like Ozawa, who LOST their "single seat" election, still maintains his seat because of it!

You lose, you lose, and there should be no way to go back.

Get rid of it, and increase the number of seats based upon population, and you will get more balanced and generally fair results.

And there wont be any increase in Diet members either!

Probably the last will hear of this. The LDP will silence these people immediately.

When GHQ/ SCAP was crafting the Japanese post-war government, they must have paid special attention to gerrymandering and the LDP have picked up the ball with Japanese efficiency. 

EXACTLY! That is one thing the Japanese political establishment does better than ANY other- gerrymander. They are absolutely amazing at it.

A lawsuit against the LDP? They must be so afraid now......

obladiToday  07:52 am JST

i don't know about the legal merits, but votes from rural areas are probably why LDP keeps winning

Well, Tottori no.13 constituency is, surprise surprise, held by the LDP and right in the middle of an "LDP kingdom."

With voter turn out so low in Japan the law should be changed from the right to vote to a responsibility to vote.

Make not turning up to vote an infringement.

With voter turn out so low in Japan the law should be changed from the right to vote to a responsibility to vote.

Make not turning up to vote an infringement.

They can do that for vaccines but not for vote disparity that they the LDP are benefiting from.

Election day in Japan has become the country's "Groundhog Day" with lawsuits challenging voter disparities as unconstitutional and the courts' predictable same old, same old "rinse and repeat" response. As a result, ever more citizens are switching off, tiring of the LDP's "managed democracy" from behind the bamboo screen of Kasumigaseki.

Shady election numbers from the LDP just like the pandemic. No surprise here!

Should haver challenged over the use of erasable pencils on ballot forms...

i don't know about the legal merits, but votes from rural areas are probably why LDP keeps winning.

They are the reason that they win. Rural areas are usually filled with old people with more convenience to vote. The LDP pays them back with unnecessary construction projects that brings jobs to the rural community to make money with local workers (pork barrel politics).

The young people in the big cities were celebrating Halloween during the election. That date was no surprise either!

Constitutionally problematic ?

Oh dear !

Well if you were following the democratic constitution in the first place then it wouldn't be a problem now would it !

Making it easier for all Japanese to vote regardless of which prefecture they are from or currently living or working in.

They are the reason that they win. Rural areas are usually filled with old people with more convenience to vote. The LDP pays them back with unnecessary construction projects that brings jobs to the rural community to make money with local workers (pork barrel politics).

At least the Japanese provide their small rural communities with good public services. In the US small rural communities are left to fend for themselves, leaving residents to deal with water quality problems, hospital closures, lack of nearby doctors, no stores, etc. and long drives to larger towns or cities to access government offices. There is much to be recommended about how Japan treats rural towns,

Democracy is a farce...

480,000 voters in one electorate and 231,000 in another?

Where I come from, we call that a gerrymander.

Unlucky for Japanese-speaking voters, but lucky for the LDP mandarins and their enablers among the judiciary our concept of "gerrymandering" still seems to get lost" in translation.

There's Zero chance of over turning the result.

There's Zero chance of over turning the result.

Actually there is a chance, but even if it does get turned over, it wont change the results as the judges wont order another election.

That's the way stuff is done here!

I'm surprised that no LDP apologists have sanctimoniously pointed out that no matter what the situation is in Japan., i.e. highly beneficial to the LDP, it's much worse where us foreigners are from. Wherever that might be.