Court questions July election result over vote weight disparities

A Japanese court ruled Thursday that July's upper house election was in a "state of unconstitutionality" due to a disparity of up to 3.00 times in the weight of votes between the most and least populated constituencies.The Sapporo High Court, however, rejected the demand of the 45-year-old male plaintiff that the election result in the Hokkaido electoral district in northern Japan be nullified. The plaintiff plans to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.Presiding Judge Kazuhiko Tomita said the disparity stemmed from the current system that uses prefectures as electoral districts."There ha…READ FULL ARTICLE