Many Issues to Address in Election Law Revision

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:28 JST, January 18, 2025

Revising the Public Offices Election Law requires addressing many issues, such as the posting of undignified posters in elections and the spread of misinformation on social media.

The move by the Hyogo prefectural election administration commission to call for a revision of the law in the wake of last year’s Hyogo gubernatorial election stems from the fact that the current law cannot deal with the problems that have arisen.

Such issues could interfere with the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election and the House of Councillors election scheduled for this summer if legislation is not advanced in the ordinary Diet session, which opens Friday.

“If such problems spread nationwide, it will lead to distrust in elections. Ultimately, we need to have the law decide this issue, as prefectures cannot deal with it on their own,” Hideichi Nagata, chairman of the Hyogo prefectural election administration commission, told reporters on Friday.

Nagata, who has called for revising the law, submitted a request to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry on Friday.

In the Hyogo gubernatorial election, a problem arose because there was no article in the law restricting candidates from supporting another candidate, rather than trying to win the election themselves.

Since there is a limit to the number of campaign cars and posters each candidate can use, criticism has been raised that the amount of campaigning by the candidate receiving support was “doubled.”

This is not the only situation that goes beyond the scope of the law.

In the Tokyo gubernatorial election last July, indecent campaign posters, such as one with a photo of a nearly naked woman, and the buying and selling of signboard space became an issue.

The seven parties in the ruling and opposition camps largely agreed on the need to revise the law in December last year. There were no major objections to the ruling parties’ proposal, which includes a ban on posters with content that undermines public dignity. The bill to revise the law is expected to be passed in the ordinary Diet session.

Meanwhile, it is difficult to deal with the spread of misinformation about candidates on social media. In the Hyogo gubernatorial election and Nagoya mayoral election last November, misinformation, slander and defamation were spread about some candidates, which is said to have had a significant impact on voting behavior.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also mentioned the possibility of introducing legal regulations while answering questions from party leaders in the House of Representatives last December.

However, balancing the introduction of legislation with the constitutionally guaranteed “freedom of expression” is an issue. There is also the question of who decides what constitutes misinformation, and it is difficult in drawing the line between intentional and unintentional. A senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party said it would not be easy to introduce new regulations.

“Each party and faction should discuss the way election campaigns should be conducted,” Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Seiichiro Murakami said at a press conference after the Cabinet meeting on Friday.