In fact, it was rare “Tokyo’s 15th Ward = Koto Ward” Ward mayor election and House of Representatives by-election… Abnormal situation where elections continue due to repeated scandals: Tokyo Shimbun TOKYO Web

Of the three by-elections for the House of Representatives to be counted on the 28th, Tokyo’s 15th ward has been comprised of one single-seat district since the introduction of the single-seat constituency system in 1994. This type of constituency, which overlaps with constituencies for ward mayor, ward assembly, and metropolitan assembly elections, is actually rare in Japan. This is an unusual situation in which a number of House of Representatives members and ward mayors (both of whom have resigned) have been indicted for corruption cases and violations of the Public Elections Act, leading to consecutive elections. (Kei Ganaha)

◆Out of 289 single-seat constituencies, only 8 constituencies last time

There are approximately 1,700 local governments in Japan, and the House of Representatives is divided into 289 single-seat constituencies. Overall, there are overwhelmingly many cases where a single local government is divided into multiple units or multiple local governments are combined to form a single single-member electoral district.

On the other hand, only eight single-member constituencies, including Akita 1st Ward (Akita City) and Ishikawa 1st Ward (Kanazawa City), have single-seat constituencies within the entire area of ​​individual local governments, including Tokyo’s 15 wards. Starting with the next House of Representatives election, which will be held by the end of the term in October next year, new district divisions will be introduced to correct the “one-vote disparity,” which will increase the number of constituencies to 13, including Tokyo’s 15 wards.

◆ Election work becomes easier

Masamichi Ida, a professor of political behavior at Meiji University, explained, “Generally, if a single local government creates single-member electoral districts, it saves the trouble of coordinating election affairs among multiple local governments.” Voters are also less likely to be confused about where to vote, which is expected to lead to higher turnout.

However, in the case of Koto Ward, in the last House of Representatives election, it was relatively high at 58.73%, sixth from the top of the 23 special wards, and also exceeded the national average of 55.93%, but in previous House of Representatives elections it was lower. Voter turnout in the December 2023 mayoral election was also at an all-time low of 39.2%.

The ward election office explained the advantage of forming a single-seat constituency within a single local government by saying, “The local government can convey its opinions and requests to the national government through the members of the House of Representatives, based on the collective will of the local government.” Regarding the current situation, he commented, “With politicians continuing to resign due to scandals, we can infer that voters are tired of elections and have a lot of distrust in politics.”