4th Court Finds July Upper House Election Constitutional

Naha, Okinawa Pref., Nov. 2 (Jiji Press)--The Naha branch of Fukuoka High Court in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa on Wednesday became the fourth court to find the House of Councillors election in July constitutional in terms of vote-value disparities.

The ruling was the ninth on a total of 16 lawsuits filed with high courts and high court branches across the country by two groups of lawyers who claim that the election was unconstitutional as its maximum vote-value gap stood at 3.03 times.

Of the nine rulings, four, issued by Osaka, Tokyo, Sapporo and Hiroshima high courts, found the Upper House poll to have been held in a state of unconstitutionality.

Meanwhile, Nagoya and Takamatsu high courts and the Matsue branch of the Hiroshima High Court, in addition to the Naha high court branch, ruled the election constitutional.

Sendai High Court is the only one so far to deem the election unconstitutional.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]