6/25/2020 Details of 1999 (Gyo-Tsu) 35 | Judgments of the Supreme Court tolerant attitude was maintained for many years, one should not fail to face its unconstitutionality. In the light of the equality principle as provided by the Constitution, the level of the policy of rectifying the discrepancy in the apportionment of seats adopted for the demarcation of small constituencies by the latest amendment to the Law on Public Election is not only insufficient in quality, but with the introduction of the 'plus one' system which represents an arbitrary manipulation of the value of votes, it is perfectly clear that the content of this amendment is against the Constitution. 12. Thus, the election in question in the present case is flawed, because it was held on the basis of a provision on the allocation of seats which is against the Constitution. However, considering the fact that it was the first general election based upon the amended Law on Public Election, by virtue of the doctrine of discretionary judgment as applied in the judgments of the Grand Bench of the Supreme Court of April 14, 1976 and July 17, 1985 as referred to by the majority opinion in the present case, it is appropriate to declare the election in the constituency which was contested in the present case to be unlawful, but not to find the election to be null and void. The dissenting opinion of Justices KAWAI Shinichi, ENDO Mitsuo, FUKUDA Hiroshi, MOTOHARA Toshifumi and KAJITANII Gen on Item iii 4 is as follows: Differing from the majority opinion, we think that the discrimination between those who belong to the candidate-presenting parties and those who do not in the election campaign in small constituency elections is against the Constitution, and the election in the present case is unlawful. The reasons are as follows. 1. The constitutional significance of the right to an election campaign Under the Constitution which adopts the system of democratic representation, rights of the people on the occasion of electing members of the Diet, i.e. the right to exercise election rights freely and in an equal manner, is an extremely important basic right, and it goes without saying that the right to be elected, which is back to back with this right is also an important basic right. It is only natural that the right to be elected includes the right to conduct an election campaign, and therefore, the Constitution should be understood to require equal treatment of all candidates in conducting an election campaign. The Diet, as the supreme body of the nation, is elected by a free and fair election and should be composed of members who widely represent the people, and for this reason, the equality of the right to be elected is one of the most important criteria which are to be considered when determining the actual scheme of the election system. 2. The relationship between the right to conduct an election campaign and the election system Equality of conducting an election campaign means that on the occasion of an election campaign, candidates are not discriminated against on the ground of creed, gender, social status etc. This as a matter of course includes the notion that the candidate should not be discriminated against as a result of belonging to a specific political party or organisation or not. However, if one looks at the provisions of the amended Law on Public Election concerning the election campaign by candidates, Article 86 has adopted a system whereby a political party or a political organisation which meets one of the requirements as provided by para.1 of the said provision, presents those who belong to it as candidates, and at the same time, provides that those who want to become a candidate or those who want to recommend a candidate may put forward a candidate. Those political parties or organisations which presented candidates (candidate-presenting parties) are entitled to conduct an election campaign separately from the election campaign conducted by the candidates themselves, and in addition, may make an election broadcast which the candidates themselves https://www.courts.go.jp/app/hanrei_en/detail?id=458 18/23