仙台高裁は「合憲」　２件目、衆院選１票の格差訴訟

　「１票の格差」が最大２．０８倍だった昨年１０月の衆院選は投票価値の平等に反し違憲だとして、弁護士らのグループが宮城や福島など東北５県の選挙無効を求めた訴訟の判決が８日、仙台高裁であった。石栗正子裁判長は「合憲」と判断し、請求を棄却した。
　昨年衆院選での１票の格差をめぐる訴訟の判決は５件目。合憲判断は東京高裁に続き２件目となる。
　石栗裁判長は、最大格差が２倍を下回った２０１７年の衆院選を合憲とした最高裁判決を基本的な前提として、同じ区割りで行われた昨年の選挙を検討。２倍を超える選挙区が生じたことを「予測通りに人口移動が生じなかったことによるもの」とした上で、「投票価値の不均衡が、違憲問題の生じる程度に著しく不平等状態だったとは言えない」と指摘した。
　原告側は、１７年衆院選の最高裁判決は判例として拘束力がないなどと主張したが、石栗裁判長は「失当だ」と退けた。（2022/02/08-16:15）

A high court in northeastern Japan ruled Tuesday that the House of Representatives election on Oct. 31, 2021, was constitutional in terms of vote-value disparity.
   Presiding Judge Masako Ishiguri at Sendai High Court in Miyagi Prefecture dismissed the demand by a group of lawyers, plaintiffs in the lawsuit, that the results of the Lower House poll in five northeastern Japan prefectures--Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata and Fukushima--be annulled.
   In the 2021 election for the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, the value of one vote in the least populous single-seat constituency was 2.08 times that in the most populous district.
   The Sendai court's verdict was the fifth among a series of lawsuits filed with high courts and high court branches across Japan for rulings upholding the plaintiffs' argument that the election was unconstitutional in terms of vote-value disparity.
   This was the second decision finding that the election was held constitutionally, following the first such verdict, handed down by Tokyo High Court earlier this month. The other three rulings found that the poll was held in a state of unconstitutionality.