When I first read that the Japanese coalition government had decided to force through a bill to reduce the number of seats elected by proportional representation, my first thought was, since they had a majority of votes in both Houses for this measure and as democracy generally implies majority rules, the government was behaving democratically. But further consideration has increased my doubts about the democratic nature of the government's behavior.

This was not an ordinary bill. Although it is not strictly a constitutional issue, it does have constitutional implications. If the government can force through a bill to reduce the number of seats elected by proportional representation, what is to prevent them from pushing through proposals that would further reduce the ability of smaller parties to be represented in the Diet? Could they not also ram through measures to alter the composition of single-member constituencies so that supporters of the parties in power can win an even larger proportion of seats? The average number of voters in rural constituencies remains well below that in urban constituencies and everyone knows that the Liberal Democratic Party gets its main support from farmers and rural lobbies. So I began to think that the government's behavior did pose a potential threat to democratic institutions in Japan.

My concern was increased by the fact that the opposition parties were apparently given little opportunity to debate the issues involved. The Democratic Party of Japan is reported to favor in principle a reduction in the number of Diet seats, but they were not given a fair and proper chance to present their case. I can well understand why they decided in the circumstances to boycott the Diet. But this may well not have been a wise decision. Would it not have been better, in public-relations terms at least, to use the Diet forum on every possible occasion to question the government's motives and behavior? This would give more publicity for their case and would seem to be a more democratic approach.