A Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker said Thursday that she would resign from the Diet in response to the Supreme Court's dismissal of an appeal by campaign workers for her and another DPJ member of the House of Representatives over campaign violations.
The five, campaign workers for DPJ lawmakers Sayuri Kamata, 39, and Azuma Konno, 57, had appealed the suspended prison terms handed them by the high court for illegal electioneering in November 2003, officials said Thursday.
The No. 3 Petty Bench will finalize their convictions if no objection is filed within three days of its decision, made Tuesday. The five are all key members of labor unions supporting the two House of Representatives members.
Kamata told reporters in Sendai: "I will be resigning as a lawmaker. It was my election and therefore I am responsible.
"As the final decision of the judicial branch was disclosed today, I would like to come to terms with it."
Konno said he is not resigning. He told a news conference in Tokyo, "I believe we were engaged in a fair election with volunteers having gathered on their own will."
He said that the guilty-by-association clause should not affect union executives.
If Konno does not resign and the convictions of the five stand, the Sendai High Public Prosecutors Office is expected to file an administrative lawsuit to nullify the lawmakers' election held Nov. 9, 2003.
Unless he wins the lawsuit, Konno stands to lose his seat and would be banned from running in Lower House elections in the same electoral district for five years.
Among DPJ lawmakers elected in the last Lower House election, Yuzuru Tsuzuki, 54, also resigned from the Diet after two of his aides were convicted of violating election laws.
