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 for the House of Representatives was submitted to Prime Minister Abe by the Cabinet Office's "District Delimitation Council," commonly known as the "District Delimitation Review." Based on this, a bill to amend the Public Election Law was decided by the Cabinet on May 16, 2017.
Regarding the single-member districts, lawsuits have been filed over the disparity of one vote each election, and the Supreme Court has ruled three times that the situation is unconstitutional. The national government plans to make a provisional review to ensure that the disparity is less than double over the next five years, taking future population into account until the next review.
This review of the district boundaries will affect a total of 19 prefectures, with one small electoral district being reduced in 6 prefectures and the boundary lines being changed in 13 prefectures. The electoral districts that will have their boundaries reviewed will total 97, marking the largest review since the introduction of the small electoral district system in the House of Representatives in 1994.
According to the estimates based on the population projections for the year 2020, the difference in population between the most populous Tokyo 22 wards (554,880 people) and the least populous Tottori 1 ward (277,569 people) is expected to be 1.999 times.
It is naturally necessary to correct the disparity of one vote, and I do not disagree with that. However, when reconsidering to ensure it is less than double, I cannot suddenly accept the division of the city, which is a basic local government.
Inagi City was entirely part of Tokyo's 22 wards (Mitaka, Chofu, Komae, Inagi), but with this recommendation, the Sakahama, Hirao, Nagamine, and Wakabadai districts will transition to Tokyo's 21 wards (Tachikawa, Hino, and others), while the remaining districts will stay in Tokyo's 22 wards (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 each time that there be no division. Unfortunately, they did not heed our requests. While municipalities do not have the authority to be involved in the decision of district divisions, we were concerned that if we did nothing, the division could proceed based on the original proposal from the Ministry. 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 of you may have seen it on television.
The summary of the comments I made on April 19, 2017, in response to 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.