[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Due to the tight scheduling of the election caused by COVID-19, it has been revealed that a significant number of overseas residents are being deprived of their right to participate in the upcoming Japanese House of Representatives general election on the 31st.
On the 25th, Asahi Shimbun reported that confusion is arising surrounding overseas voting for this general election.
The Embassy of Japan in Laos announced on the 19th that overseas voting at the diplomatic mission would not be conducted for this general election for Japanese nationals residing locally.
The reason cited was the suspension of regular flights between Laos and Japan due to COVID-19, as well as the inability to secure temporary flights in time.
They also considered the fact that deliveries via international mail are taking longer than usual, making it difficult to return the marked ballots to the election management committee of each registered municipality in time for the counting day.
There are three methods for Japanese nationals living abroad to exercise their voting rights: voting at local diplomatic missions, voting upon return to Japan, and postal voting.
In the 2017 House of Representatives election, there were about 100,000 Japanese overseas voters, with a turnout rate of 21.18% (based on constituencies).
Voting at diplomatic missions was the most common with 19,403 voters, followed by voting upon return with 1,217 voters, and postal voting with 578 voters.
Due to COVID-19 and worsening local security, 15 locations including Laos have decided not to conduct voting at diplomatic missions for this election.
The Japanese government recommends postal voting for overseas nationals who cannot vote at diplomatic missions, but there are criticisms that this is also difficult due to complicated procedures and tight schedules.
With the international postal system not operating normally due to the impact of COVID-19, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida not allowing ample time for the election schedule, it has become difficult in some regions to meet deadlines for issuing overseas ballots and collecting marked ballots.
Prime Minister Kishida, who took office on the 4th, adopted an election strategy of setting the shortest period (17 days) from the dissolution of the House of Representatives to the voting and counting day since the current constitution came into effect.
Asahi Shimbun suggested that Kishida’s decision to shorten the election schedule accelerated the confusion over overseas voting and proposed discussing the introduction of internet-based overseas voting to prevent such problems from recurring.
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