6/25/2020
Details of 1999 (Gyo-Tsu) 35 | Judgments of the Supreme Court
of the Constitution, Articles 131, paragraph 1, 141, paragraphs 1,2 and
7, 141-2, paragraph 1, 142, paragraphs 1,2 and 9, 143, paragraphs 1
and 3, 144, paragraphs 1 and 4, 149, paragraph 1, 150, paragraphs 1
and 4, 151-5, 161, paragraph 1, 161-2 of the Law on Public Election
Main text of the judgment (decision)
Reasons
The jokoku appeal shall be dismissed.
The cost of appeal shall be borne by the jokoku appellant.
On the ground of appeal by the jokoku appellant:
I In accordance with the facts lawfully ascertained by the High Court,
the 8th Council on the System of Election delivered a report in April
1990 on the system of the election of members of the House of
Representatives, containing a proposal that since the then existing
system of medium size constituencies had some problems, this
needed to be fundamentally changed and the so-called parallel
system of single constituency and proportional representation should
be introduced. Also taking into account subsequent supplementary
reports, a bill on the amendments to the Law on Public Election was
prepared and submitted to the Diet by the Cabinet, and was
discussed in the Diet. As a result, in January 1994, the Law on Partial
Amendments to the Law on Public Election (Law No.2, 1994) was
adopted. This Law was further amended by Laws No.10 and No.104
of the same year. Hereby, the system of election for members of the
House of Representatives underwent a change from a medium-size
constituency system with one vote for each voter to a parallel system
of a small single constituency and the proportional representation
system. The Law on Public Election after the amendments
(hereinafter, 'the amended Law on Public Election'), set the number of
the members of the House of Representatives at 500, of which 300
were elected from single constituencies and 200 by the proportional
representation system (Art.4, para. 1), and provided for each
respective election system. Concerning the general election, each
voter was given one vote for members of the House of
Representatives from the single constituency and another vote for the
proportional representation system respectively, and the elections for
both systems were to be held simultaneously (Arts. 31 and 36). For
the election based upon the small constituency system (hereinafter,
'the small constituency election'), 300 constituencies are to be
established nation-wide, and each constituency is to elect one
member of the House (Art.13, para.1, attached table No.1). In the
ballot paper, the voter is to write the name of one candidate (Art.46,
para.1), and the candidate who receives the highest number of votes
will win a seat (Art.95, para.1). Concerning the election of members of
the House based upon proportional representation (hereinafter, 'the
proportional representation election'), 11 constituencies are
established nation-wide, and each constituency elects a
predetermined number of members of the House (Art.13, para.2,
attached table No.2). In the ballot paper, the name or an abbreviated
appellation of a political party which has submitted its list of
candidates for the House (Art.46, para.2) is to be entered, and in
accordance with the number of votes each party has gained, the
number of successful candidates is calculated, and those on the list
(except for those who won a seat in the small constituency) which
had been submitted in advance win a seat in the order they were
entered on the list, up to the number of successful candidates of the
given political party (Art.95-2, paras. 1-5). Accordingly, amendments
were made in relation to the requirements concerning the candidacy,
procedure, subjects and methods of the election campaign etc.
The present case is a litigation on the validity of the election, based
upon a claim that the provisions concerning the election system of
the amended Law on Public Election are against the Constitution and
null and void, and therefore, the small constituency election of the
Constituency No.5 of Tokyo, held on October 20, 1996, based upon
this system (hereinafter, 'the Election') was null and void.
ii. The system of election under a representative democracy is aimed
at reflecting the interests and opinions of the people fairly and
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