参院選「合憲」５件に＝３倍の「１票格差」

　７月の参院選で最大３．００倍の「１票の格差」があったのは違憲として、弁護士らが選挙無効を求めた訴訟の判決で、東京高裁と福岡高裁宮崎支部は３０日、いずれも「合憲」とし、請求を棄却した。全国で１６件起こされた無効訴訟で判決が言い渡されたのはこれで７件で、「合憲」は５件となった。２件は「違憲状態」としている。
　最高裁は合区で格差が３．０８倍に縮小した２０１６年の参院選を合憲と判断。今夏の参院選は埼玉選挙区の定数増でさらに縮小した。東京高裁の八木一洋裁判長は「わずかだが格差を縮小させ、国会の是正の決意は継続されている」と評価。宮崎支部の高橋文清裁判長は「合区の評価は分かれている」などと述べ、定数増の合理性を認めた。
　「違憲状態」とした高松、札幌両高裁は「抜本的な制度の見直しが必要」などと指摘していた。
　一連の訴訟は１２月に判決が出そろい、その後最高裁が統一判断を示す見通し。（2019/10/30-18:31）

A Japanese high court and a high court branch ruled Wednesday that the July election for the House of Councillors was constitutional in terms of vote-value disparity, rejecting calls by the plaintiffs to invalidate the Upper House election results.
   The rulings were made by Tokyo High Court and Fukuoka High Court's branch in Miyazaki. In the election, the maximum vote-value disparity stood at 3.00, meaning one vote in the least populated constituency was equivalent to three votes in the most populated one.
   They were the sixth and the seventh rulings in 16 lawsuits filed with high courts and high court branches across the country over the election for the upper chamber of the Diet, or parliament. So far, there have been five "constitutional" decisions and two rulings saying the election was carried out "in a state of unconstitutionality."
   At the Tokyo court, Presiding Judge Kazuhiro Yagi said, "The vote-value disparity has slightly improved and the Diet has maintained its resolve to correct the gap."
   The Supreme Court has concluded that the 2016 Upper House election, in which the maximum disparity fell to 3.08 from 4.77 in the previous 2013 election thanks to the integration of two pairs of sparsely populated neighboring western Japan prefectures into single constituencies, was constitutional.