Osaka High Court Finds July Upper House Election Constitutional

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Oct 24, 2025 19:08 (JST)

Osaka, Oct. 24 (Jiji Press)–Osaka High Court on Friday found the House of Councillors election in July constitutional, rejecting a claim by a group of lawyers that the election results should be nullified due to vote-value disparities.

The plaintiffs plan to file an appeal.

The maximum vote-value gap stood at 3.13 times in the July 20 election for the upper chamber of the Diet, Japanese parliament. Led by lawyer Hidetoshi Masunaga, the group argued that this was not in line with the equal value of votes under the Constitution.

The ruling, handed down by Presiding Judge Masafumi Kawabata, was the first for a total of 16 lawsuits filed with 14 high courts or high court branches across the country by Masunaga’s group and another group of lawyers.

The focus was how the court would evaluate the slight expansion in the maximum gap from 3.03 times in the previous 2022 Upper House election, which the top court ruled constitutional, without revisions to the election system.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]

Jiji Press