No.67 Regarding the Review of the District Division for the House of Representatives Election

Inagi Newsletter June 15, 2017 Edition

On April 19, 2017, a recommendation for the revision of electoral districts was submitted to Prime Minister Abe by the "House of Representatives Electoral District Deliberation Council" of the Cabinet Office, commonly known as the "District Division Council." Based on this, a bill to amend the Public Offices Election Act was decided by the Cabinet on May 16, 2017.
Regarding single-member districts, lawsuits have been filed over the disparity of one vote in each election, and the Supreme Court has ruled three times that the situation is unconstitutional. The government plans to conduct a provisional review to ensure that the disparity remains below twice the population until the next review, taking future population into account.
This district division review will affect a total of 19 prefectures, with one single-member district being reduced in six prefectures and the boundary lines being changed in 13 prefectures. The electoral districts subject to review will total 97, marking the largest revision since the introduction of the single-member district system in the House of Representatives in 1994.
According to estimates based on the population projections for 2020, the disparity between the most populous Tokyo 22nd district (554,880 people) and the least populous Tottori 1st district (277,569 people) is expected to be 1.999 times.
Correcting the disparity of one vote is obviously necessary, and I do not dispute that. However, when reviewing to ensure it is less than twice, it is not acceptable to divide municipalities, which are basic local governments.
Inagi City was entirely part of Tokyo 22nd district (Mitaka, Chofu, Komae, Inagi), but under this recommendation, the districts of Sakahama, Hirao, Nagamine, and Wakabadai will transition to Tokyo 21st district (Tachikawa, Hino, etc.), while the remaining districts will remain in Tokyo 22nd district (see image).
Since the end of last year, Inagi City has been receiving hearings from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and we have strongly requested that there be no divisions each time, but unfortunately, our requests were not heeded. Municipalities do not have the authority to be involved in the decision of district divisions, but if we did nothing, there was a risk of being divided according to the original proposal from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Therefore, on March 21, 2017, we jointly issued a press release with Tama City titled "Statement Requesting Reconsideration of the Division of City Areas in District Division." On April 20, 2017, NHK's metropolitan network covered this issue, so many people may have seen it on television.
The summary of the comment I made on April 19, 2017, regarding the recommendation is as follows.
Statement from the Mayor of Inagi City

1. It is truly regrettable that our request to create a district division proposal in accordance with the policy established by the House of Representatives District Division Deliberation Council, which states that "the principle is not to divide the areas of municipalities," was not accepted.
2. As a municipality where a new town was promoted as a national policy, it is truly regrettable for our city, which has been working to foster a sense of community, that a proposal to divide such a small city has been recommended.
3. This district division revision is considered a provisional measure based on the results of the 2015 national census, so when the district division revision is conducted based on the results of the 2020 national census, we would like to request a fundamental review to ensure that the city is not divided.

We will continue to inform you about the trends in electoral district revisions through city announcements and other means.