Voter Turnout in Upper House Election: The figure Has Improved, But What Should be Done Going Forward?

Editorial

15:17 JST, July 26, 2025

Voter interest in the House of Councillors election seemed to have been piqued by closely felt topics, such as how to deal with high prices, and by the strong sense that voters would be choosing a ruling party.

Voter turnout in the election was 58.51%, up 6.46 percentage points from the last election three years ago. In recent times, voter turnout has been poor, falling below 50% in the 1995 and 2019 elections.

For the latest upper house election, there were concerns that voter turnout would drop because election day fell in the middle of a three-day holiday, but in the end, voters came out at the third highest in the past three decades.

It is believed that the record 6,905 early voting sites that were set up by municipalities in front of train stations and in shopping malls, as well as at other locations, made it easier for voters to participate, thereby contributing to the bump in voter turnout.

Over 26.18 million people cast their ballot early, the highest figure, including for House of Representatives elections, since early voting was introduced in 2004. In total, 43.19% of all voters voted early, marking the first time the number topped 40%.

Nevertheless, in upper house elections, voter turnout has not exceeded 60% since 1989. Voter turnout in lower house elections has also been stuck in the 50% range since 2012.

Under the current circumstances, in which more than 40% of eligible voters do not exercise their right to vote in national elections, the foundations of democracy could be undermined. The hope is that local governments will make greater efforts to increase voter turnout.

However, the reality in regional areas, which are facing serious population decline, is difficult.

Since there was a shortage of staff for the recent upper house election, voting ended early at 40% of polling stations nationwide on election day. In one case, as it was not possible to secure the two supervisors needed for a polling station, only one person monitored the voting process online.

In the future, neighboring small local governments may need to consider collaborating on voting supervision and vote counting.

The lowest voter turnout was in Tokushima Prefecture, at 50.48%. In 2016, when the neighboring constituencies of Tokushima Prefecture and Kochi Prefecture were merged for upper house elections, Kochi Prefecture had the lowest turnout. Tokushima Prefecture’s voter turnout was the lowest in the three consecutive elections after the 2016 race. Voter turnout in the Tottori-Shimane constituency, another merged constituency, has also been poor.

In merged constituencies, only candidates who are connected to one of the prefectures can effectively run, so voters in the other prefecture may lose interest.

If the focus is solely on correcting vote-value disparities, the only option will be to increase the number of merged constituencies in regional areas where the population is declining. The current election system seems to disregard the will of regional people by interpreting vote-value disparities as violating equality under the law. Can such an election system be allowed to continue?

The ruling and opposition parties must urgently discuss reforms such as the Liberal Democratic Party’s proposal to revise the Constitution, which positions upper house lawmakers as “regional representatives.”

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 26, 2025)