The Hiroshima High Court ruled Thursday that the outcome of a western Japan constituency in July's House of Councillors election should be invalidated due to an unconstitutional disparity in the weight of votes.
The decision by the court's Okayama branch is the first ruling among 14 similar lawsuits filed with high courts across Japan by groups of lawyers, who have argued the disparity up to 4.77-fold in the July 21 upper house election is against the equal-protection clause under the Constitution, thus the election should be invalid.The Supreme Court ruled in October last year that the maximum fivefold disparity in the weight of votes in the 2010 upper house election was "in a state of unconstitutionality."
Source: NewsOnJapan
Source: NewsOnJapan
