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84 การประชุมวิชาการ
สถาบันพระปกเกล้า ครั้งที่ 16

The Diet or Parliament

The Diet is composed of two houses; the House of Representatives
(HR for short) and the House of Councillors (HC for short). Members of both
Houses are directly elected by the Japanese People who are 20 years old or
older.

The House of Representatives is composed of 480 members. 300
members are elected by “the first-past-the-post system” (the so-called “single
seat constituency system”) and 180 members are elected by the proportionate
representation system from 11 regional constituencies. The term of office is four
years but if the House of Representative is dissolved the election is held before
the four year term expires. Candidates for election must be 25 years old or
older.

The House of Councillors is composed of 242 members for six year term.
The election is held every three year and half members of 242 are elected by
each election. 146 members are elected from district constituencies from which
1~5 are elected as successful winners of the seats. 96 members are elected
by the nation-wide proportional representation system. There is not the system
of dissolution of the House of Councillors. Candidates for election must be
30 years old or older.

In recent years, elections were held in September 2005, August 2009
and December 2012 for the House of Representatives and in July 2007, July
2010 and July 2013 for the House of Councillors. Frequency of elections at the
national level may be a characteristic of politics in Japan. In the case of
members of the Diet, there is no qualifying test such as civil service
examination and the National Bar Examination for lawyers including court judges.
But, being chosen by the direct vote of people is the basis of their power and
this may be the most difficult test in the democracy.
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a or roles of the Diet

The Diet has the wide range of roles and responsibility as the organ
representing the people to ensure the appropriate functioning of the
government.

Major roles of the Diet are as follows.

๏ The Japanese Constitution explicitly says that the Diet is the highest
organ of state power and sole law making of the state.

๏ The Diet nominates the Prime Minister who is to be appointed by
the Emperor.