Japan court deems July vote disparity in unconstitutional state

A Japanese court ruled Thursday that the up to 3.03-fold vote disparity in July's upper house election was in "a state of unconstitutionality."But the Sapporo High Court rejected calls to nullify the poll results in the Hokkaido constituency as sought by the plaintiffs.The ruling is the fifth to be handed down among 16 lawsuits filed across the country at 14 high courts and their branches by two groups of lawyers who claim the vote weight disparity in the House of Councillors race violated the Constitution's requirement for fair elections.In the ruling, the high court said it was "in a nota…READ FULL ARTICLE