Number of seats - Number of seats

Japanese: 議員定数 - ぎいんていすう

The number of Diet members allocated to each electoral district based on population or number of voters. This is determined by the Diet based on the provisions for apportioning seats in the Public Offices Election Law, and in principle, the seats are allocated in proportion to the population. However, because the peculiarities of each region are taken into account to some extent, the seats are not necessarily exactly proportional to the population. As a result, there may be disparities in the population (or number of voters) per member in each electoral district. In addition, the disparity has rapidly expanded due to the progress of urbanization and the depopulation of rural areas. This has often been called into question from the perspective of equality under the law guaranteed by the Constitution, as the "weight of one vote," and civic groups from various regions have filed lawsuits over the number of seats in the House of Representatives. In April 1976, the Supreme Court ruled for the first time that the 1972 seat quota provisions, which had a maximum disparity of 1 to 5, were unconstitutional. However, in a Supreme Court ruling in November 1983, the court ruled that a disparity of 2.92 to 1 was constitutional, and a disparity of up to 3 to 1 was permitted under the Constitution. In theory, a disparity of two to one or more is considered to be contrary to equality of voting value.
→ Related article: The gap between one vote

Source : Heibonsha Encyclopedia About MyPedia Information

Japanese:

人口または有権者数を基礎に割り出して，各選挙区に配分された国会議員の定数のこと。これは公職選挙法に定める議員定数配分規定に基づき国会が定めるもので，原則は人口に比例して配分することになっている。しかし，各地域の特殊性などもある程度考慮されるため，必ずしも正確に人口に比例しているわけではない。その結果，各選挙区により議員１人あたりの人口（または有権者数）に格差が生じることがある。また，都市化の進展や農村部の過疎化の進行により，格差は急速に拡大した。このことが〈１票の重み〉として憲法の保障する法の下の平等という観点からしばしば問題とされ，各地の市民団体により衆議院定数訴訟が起こされた。1976年４月に最高裁は初めて最大格差が１対５となっていた1972年当時の議員定数規定を違憲とした。しかし，1983年11月の最高裁判決では2.92対１の格差を合憲と判断し，３対１までの格差は憲法上許容されるものとの司法判断が下された。学説上は格差が２対１以上になることは投票価値の平等に反するものと考えられている。
→関連項目一票の格差

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