Osaka High Court rules 2014 Lower House election in "state of unconstitutionality"

The Osaka High Court ruled on Monday that the 2014 House of Representatives election in Kansai region was "in a state of unconstitutionality" due to vote weight disparity between different constituencies.

According to the court, the significant vote value disparity between different constituencies around the country violates the Constitution's guarantee of equality under law.

As government data show, one vote in the country's least populated constituency was worth 2.13 votes in the most heavily populated district in the 2014 election.

The court, however, rejected the plaintiffs' demand to nullify the election results on the ground that "the situation is making progress".

This is the third ruling among a total of 17 lawsuits filed by groups of lawyers demanding the election results be nullified.

The Nagoya High Court ruled on March 20 that a "state of unconstitutionality" exists in the 2014 election, while the Tokyo High Court ruled the previous day that there was nothing untoward about the election.

Rulings of other high courts are expected over the next few days. The Supreme Court is expected to make a unified judgment on the appeals of the high court rulings.

The 47th general election of the House of Representatives of Japan was held last December in which the ruling coalition of Abe administration won two thirds of the seats. Endi