The Revision of Malapportionment : With Relation to an Expanded Self-Government Body Theory

Abstract

The political reform which the Liberal Democratic Party made, pledged on reflection of the so-called "RECRUIT" scandal, has been shelved less than two weeks after Mr. Miyazawa took over reins of the govenment. Therefore, a drastic revision of the electoral system has been postponed for the time being. This paper refers to the revision of the electoral system from four view-points. 1 What kind of electoral system should be adopted? The 8th Electroral System Council's Report must be respected, because it is sensitive to the will of the people, and makes a change of government with ease. 2 The criterion for deviation. In theory, it is one-to-one. Since equal representation for equal numbers of people is the fundamental goal of the House of Representatives, the "as nearly as practicable" standard requires that Parliament meke a good faith effort to achive mathematical equality. 3 The method of apportionment and distriction. I interpreted as follow:the block system with Expanded Self-Govenment Theory (Federal system, Doushiyuu system) must be adopted for both single-member and proportional constituency. Because by this the deviation of the single-member constituency may be approximately one-to-one. 4 The keyword of an electoral system's reform. There are two keywords;an accurate representation and a change of government, but the latter is primary. Since a change of government serves as the greatest prevention against corruption, and a general election serves as a change for the selection of a new government, they generate tension for an election.