6/25/2020 Details of 1999 (Gyo-Tsu) 35 | Judgments of the Supreme Court is given representative rights disproportionate to the numbers of population or voters. Such an explicit provision does not exist in our Constitution, and it is after all impossible to conclude that a system of election which is against the equality principle would be allowed based upon the argument that the designing of an election system based upon the prefectural system is within the scope of discretion by the Diet. Thirdly, there is a view that since in local assemblies, due to the unique character of local autonomy, there are some limited cases where the equality principle is applied in a slightly relaxed way, the same should apply to the Diet. It is obvious that this view is incompatible with the provision of the Constitution which provides that the Diet is the supreme organ of the nation which is composed of members who represent the people as a whole and not a specific region. 6. Japan had maintained a high economic growth for many years and was able to cope with various problems without solving fundamental contradictions within the system. However, the time of such laxity is gone and we are confronted with totally new significant tasks. In order to deal with new and significant problems within and outside Japan in a correct way in such a harsh environment, the existence of a legislature which correctly reflects the will of the people, i.e. the Diet which is composed of members elected by a system which strictly complies with the equality principle as provided by the Constitution, has gained even more significance than in the past. Naturally, policies chosen by the members of the Diet are not always the best, difficulties are not always foreseen and errors emerge from time to time. However, the strength of the representative democracy is that if the views of the voters change, it is likely to be reflected in a policy change through the election of the members of the Diet. If voters think that policies chosen by the members of the Diet for whom they voted in the previous election are no longer the best, they may easily change their voting attitude. Members of the Diet are fully aware of this, and make efforts to promote policies which are chosen by the majority of the voters. In other words, the basis of the representative democracy is to enable the correct choice of policies which are supported by a greater number of voters by replacing members of the Diet by election or by influencing their political views. Even when a representative democracy is adopted, if the value of the votes of voters is not equal, the Diet which is composed of members elected by such a system will have a distorted structure which does not correctly reflect the will of the people at the time of the election. In such cases, a possibility that decisions adopted by a majority vote in the Diet does not reflect the will of the majority of the people emerges, and there is a possibility that the response to the problems within and outside Japan may be erroneous. Representative democracy aimed at by the Constitution is not like this. Elections based upon unequal value of votes are not only against the Constitution, but risk arousing the distrust of the people in politics, thus causing political apathy. 7. The primary responsibility of demarcating constituency boundaries in strict accordance with the equality principle, of course, lies with the Diet. However, members comprising the Diet have been elected by the existing election system, and therefore, tend to be overcautious when reform of the election system is at issue. For this reason, even if the system of election leads to inequality in the value of votes, sufficient eagerness to change the system tends to be lacking. Under the system of rules based upon the separation of powers, the responsibility of rectifying the situation also lies with the administration and the judiciary. When the judiciary is given the power of judicial review, the role of the judiciary will be extremely important. This should be particularly acknowledged under a system in which the administration is inclined to be influenced by the Diet; furthermore, under the system of Dietary government, in contrast with the presidential system, where the head of the administration is elected by a separate election, there is an inherent limit to the possibility of expressing views on matters such as the demarcation of https://www.courts.go.jp/app/hanrei_en/detail?id=458 14/23