Nuclear Option Was Invoked

Gerrymandering is one of the most popular manipulations to take advantage of election system for a party’s benefit. In Japan, the problem over its election system is doing nothing for a necessary reform. The National Diet passed a law to make a minor change in election system of the House of Representatives. For that process, the leading parties, Liberal Democratic and New Komeito, used “nuclear option,” a constitutional exception that two-third majority of the Lower House could turn over the dismissal of the House of Councillors. The Diet consequently revealed its inability.

The law passed on Monday was to reduce the total of electoral seats from 300 to 295, maintaining 180 seats of proportional representation. The purpose of the reform was to contain the difference of one-vote value within double. In the election of 2009, the district 4 of Chiba held 2.30 times more electoral voters than the district 3 in Kochi for one seat. Two years ago, the Supreme Court required that the difference should be within two times at large. The reform law reduced the margin to 1.998 between the smallest and the largest.

The leading parties passed the bill with absolute majority in the House of Representatives in April. But, opposite Democratic Party of Japan blocked it in the House of Councillors, with the reasoning that the reduction was insufficient to adjust the unconstitutional situation. The Constitution of Japan allows the House of Representative re-approving a bill once passed in the House, when the House of Coucillors made no decision on it after 60 days it received the bill. The leading parties applied this provision to the election reform bill, as the third time under current constitution.

Behind the struggle over the bill, the option of further reduction of seats was put aside. DPJ asserted that the seats for proportional representation should be reduced from 180 to 100, in order to show moral responsibility of politicians. LDP could not agree on it, with consideration of its negative impact on its coalition partner, Komeito. Although there were discussions on fundamental change of the election system of the House, it had no achievement in the collisions of the interests of parties.

The focus now is how the Supreme Court assesses the result in this fall. If it still finds unconstitutionality of the margin of one-vote value, and even decides last election invalid, some lawmakers will lose its legitimacy and be discharged. Such a turmoil in politics may happen as a consequence of political irresponsibility.