Appendix I

THE JAPANESE ELECTORAL SYSTEM--THE SINGLE NON-TRANSFERABLE VOTE

The following memorandum has been written by Mr. Kametaro Hayasbida, the Chief Secretary of the Japanese House of Representatives, in reply to a series of questions, the particulars of which are set out in the memorandum.

Failure of single member system.

The Original Election Law of our country was promulgated in 1889, the same year in which took place the promulgation of the Constitution. Under this law the system of small electoral districts was single-adopted, and each Fu or Ken (administrative district) was divided into several electoral districts each of which constituted a single-member constituency (with the exception of some large districts which, impossible of further division, had two seats allotted with the system of scrutin de liste). The system was, however, found in practice to be very unsatisfactory, as it often happened that a minority of the voters, instead of the majority, in certain Fu or Ken obtained the majority of the members returned, and, on the other hand, a party with a majority at the polls could not sometimes, as the result of the grouping of the voters in the small electoral districts, secure any representation at all. Under such circumstances it was utterly impossible for each political party to obtain representation in reasonable proportion to the strength of its voters; or, in other words, the electors of the country at large had never succeeded in being properly represented in their legislative body. As the inadequacy of the system was thus apparently shown I formulated in 1891, by somewhat what modifying Marshal's cumulative voting system, a system of large electoral districts combined with that of the single vote, and urged for a revision of the Election Law.

Multi-member constituencies. Single vote adopted 1900.

Since then several elections had taken place; and the defects of the existing law were more strongly pronounced at each successive election. It was, however, not until the year 1898 that the Government at last introduced a Bill for a revision of the law with the view of adopting the system I had the honour of formulating. After heated discussion in three successive sessions, the Bill was passed in 1900 and sanctioned as a law. This is our present Election Law. In the revised system the Fu, Ken, and Shi (the administrative districts) constitute at the same time the electoral districts, and a voter in each district has but one vote for one candidate, while several seats (according to the population) are allotted to the district.

The above is a brief historical sketch of our electoral system. I shall now try to answer your questions in order.

Equitable results.

As to the first question whether our system secures the representation of each party in reasonable proportion to its voting strength, I cannot do better than answer it by pointing out a few instances in the General Election which took place on the 15 May 1908.

TABLE I

THE CITY OF TOKYO (11 seats)

Seats in Seats Parties. Votes. Proportion Obtained. to votes. Seiyu-Kwai (Liberals) 6,579 2.71 2 Konsei-honto (Progressives) 2,216 0.91 1 Daido-ha (Conservatives) 2,879 1.18 2 Yuko-Kwai (Radicals) 4,656 1.91 2 Churitsu (Independent) 10,414 4.29 4 ------ ----- -- Total 26,744 11.00 11

All parties except the Seiyu-kwai and Daido-ha succeeded in obtaining their representatives in reasonable proportion to their respective voting strength. The explanation given for the particular case of the Seiyu-kwai is that the party, unable for some reason or other to limit the number of candidates, had placed five candidates instead of three or four, and caused its own defeat by splitting the votes. I take at random, or rather in the order they come, a few more districts, and the results obtained are as follows:--

TABLE II

TOKYO-FU (5 seats)

Parties. Number of Seats in Seats Candidates. Votes. Proportion Obtained to Votes. Seiyu-kwai 5 12,794 4.02 4 Kensei-honto - - - - Daido-ha. 1 13,122 .98 1 Churitsu - - - - ------ ---- - Total 6 15,916 5.00 5

TABLE III

THE CITY OF KYOTO (3 seats)

Parties. Number of Seats in Seats Candidates. Votes. Proportion Obtained to Votes. Seiyu-kwai 1 1,284 0.45 - Kensei-honto - - - - Daido-ha - - - - Yuko-Kwai - - - - Churitsu 3 7,304 2.55 3 - ----- ---- - Total 4 8,588 3.00 3

TABLE IV

KYOTO-FU (5 seats)

Parties. Number of Seats in Seats Candidates. Votes. Proportion Obtained. to Votes. Seiyu-kwai 5 18,928 4.01 4 Kensei-honto -- -- -- -- Daido-ha -- -- -- -- Yuko-kwai -- -- -- -- Churitsu 1 4,701 0.99 1 -------------------------------------- Total.... 6 23,629 5.00 5

TABLE V

THE CITY OF OSAKA (6 seats)

Parties. Number of Seats in Seats Candidates. Votes. Proportion Obtained. to Votes. Seiyu-kwai 5 8,666 3.32 4 Kensei-honto -- -- -- -- Daido-ha -- -- -- -- Yuko-kwai 1 2,612 1.00 1 Churitsu 2 4,368 1.68 1 --------------------------------------------- Total.... 8 15,646 6.00 6

TABLE VI

OSAKU-FU (6 seats)

Parties. Number of Seats in Seats Candidates. Votes. Proportion Obtained. to Votes. Seiyu-kwai 5 15,137 3.57 5 Kensei-honto -- -- -- -- Daido-ha 1 2,199 0.52 -- Yuko-kwai 1 1,304 0.31 -- Churitsu 3 6,786 1.60 1 --------------------------------------------- Total.... 10 25,426 6.00 6

Throughout all electoral districts similar results were obtained. The Churitsu (i.e. those belonging to no party), considered as a group, had not everywhere been as successful as the other parties, as observe in Tables V. and VI. Each candidate of this group is quite independent of the other, and has no political views or propaganda in common, nor any organization whatever. Therefore, each case is totally different from the other. Although all independent candidates or voters are in these tables grouped as Churitsu, it is not proper to consider them in the same category with the other parties.

Now, judging from the results in the General Election, a few instances of which are given above, I may say that our present system, if not fully satisfactory, tolerably secures the representation of each political party in approximate proportion to its voting capacity.

The new system and party organization.

As to the first part of your second question, whether, to obtain these results, the system involves a great deal of calculation on the part of political organizations as to the exact number of their supporters, I should say that, as the same system and method of election are uniformly adopted in the city, county, borough and village elections as well as in the elections of the Prefectural Assembly, it is not a very difficult task for all political parties to ascertain from the results of all these elections their relative strength, and to estimate the number of their supporters.

As to the second part of the question, whether it is necessary to issue precise instructions to the electors as to the candidates for whom they should vote, my answer is this: as every political organization through its branch in every Fu and Ken and the sub-branches in the cities, counties, towns and villages, is always in close touch with its constituents, and is constantly explaining its position and propaganda, with the view not only to instruct them but also to extend the sphere of its influence, it is not so difficult as it seems to decide the number of candidates. When it is once decided efforts are made on the part of the organization to distribute the votes among the candidates in such a way that not one of them receives a defeat at the hands of the other party. To attain this object the methods are not very complicated, for every elector has but one vote for one candidate; and, moreover, the stronger candidates, so long as their own position is secured, will endeavour to distribute a portion of their votes among the weaker candidates. This being the case, the member returned with the greatest number of votes may not be the most popular candidate, but the party as a whole is much more likely to succeed in getting representatives in proportion to the strength of its voters.

The position of independents.

As to the third question, whether the system enables men of independent mind and character to maintain their position in Parliament, I should emphatically state that the revised system is much better than the old in this respect. Under the old system even such a prominent man as Mr. M. Matsuda (the Speaker of the House of Representatives some years ago, and the Minister of Finance in the present Government) suffered several defeats. But under the new system it has never happened that the leader of a party has lost his seat at any election, as he may seek his election at the safest district. To men of independent mind and character the new system offers the greater opportunity to maintain their position in the House, for in the election they may, in spite of the opposition of parties, draw their votes from all parts within a large electoral district. It may be said that the larger electoral district we have, the greater opportunity we afford to independent candidates. For instance, both Mr. Y. Ozaki, the Mayor of Tokyo, and Mr. S. Shimada, by being independent candidates, have never lost their seat in Parliament, and in the last General Election were returned for their native prefecture or town with a great number of votes.

This brings me to the end of my answers to your inquiries. In conclusion I may say a few words about the public opinions in our country as to the Election Laws.

Public opinion and the new system.

Despite the fact that the new system enables the elector of the country to be more reasonably represented in the House, still there are some ambitious politicians urging for their own selfish purpose to restore the old system. But, as almost all prominent members in both Houses are fully cognizant of the relative merits and demerits of the two systems, there is not much chance of our returning to the old system.