June 12, 2026

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The Liberal Democratic Party will submit a bill which would reduce the number of seats in the House of Representatives by 10% in the current session of the Diet. Currently, of the 465 Lower House members, 289 are elected from single-seat constituencies and 176 are from proportional representation blocks.

Under the bill, if the electoral system panel, comprising representatives from all parliamentary groups in the House, fails to reach a conclusion on the final number of Lower House seats, the number of proportional representation seats will be automatically slashed by 45. The bill includes this provision in response to Prime Minister and LDP President Takaichi Sanae’s instruction to cut 45 proportional representation seats.

The LDP, in its effort to strengthen the LDP-Ishin coalition government, appears to have fully adopted its coalition partner’s suggestion to reduce the number of proportional representation seats.

Single-seat constituencies, where only one candidate is elected, generate a large number of wasted votes. Conversely, in proportional representation districts, where seats are allocated based on the number of votes cast, the number of seats accurately reflects voter preferences. Reducing the number of representatives elected from the latter constituencies would further disregard public opinion.

Moreover, the number of members in Japan’s House of Representatives is not particularly high compared to that in other countries. Therefore, reducing the number of Diet seats is illogical in itself. In fact, Japan ranks third from the bottom among the 38 OECD member states in terms of the number of congressional representatives per million people.

The Japanese Communist Party has been proposing a proportional representation system for national elections based on eleven regional blocks across the country.

A nation’s electoral system is the foundation of its democracy. Discussions regarding this system should be conducted thoroughly among all parliamentary factions, including opposition parties, in the Diet.

It is unacceptable for only certain political parties to use their majority power to decide on Diet seat cuts on the assumption that the electoral system panel will fail to reach a conclusion on the appropriate number of Diet seats.

Past related article:
> LDP-Ishin coalition government inaugurated, aiming to reduce number of proportional representation Diet seats [October 22, 2025]