Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/121

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THE IMPERIAL DIET
89
  1. Reporting on the result of the ballot.
  2. Maintaining order in the station for counting votes.

The business entrusted to the chairman of an election is summarized below:

  1. Supervising both voting and counting of votes.
  2. Appointing the place of an election meeting.
  3. Publishing the place and date of an election meeting.
  4. Nominating election witnesses.
  5. Opening and closing an election meeting.
  6. Examining reports.
  7. Ascertaining which candidate has been elected, and making notification thereof.
  8. Giving certificates of election.
  9. Publishing the name of the elected candidate.
  10. The maintenance of order at an election meeting.
  11. Holding a new election when no candidate has been elected, or in the case of non-appearance of the elected candidate.
  12. Taking action in a case in which the election has been declared null and void by decision in court of law, or in a case in which the candidate has been convicted according to the rules set forth in the Law of Election (Chapter XI.).

The qualifications of voters and candidates for election have been brought under revision. Under the old law payment of 15 yen or more in direct national taxation constituted a voter’s qualification, but the new law has lowered that minimum to 10 yen. Besides this change, little alteration has been made in the qualification of voters, but the new law has removed the restrictions of residence and tax payment in respect of candidates. The latter innovation has enabled larger numbers of citizens to be eligible as candidates, and it has provided candidates for membership of the House of Representatives who are more able and better fitted for their duties than were former members.

A ‘Japanese subject’ (Article VIII.) means any person of Japanese nationality. No foreigner, therefore, has the right to vote at elections. But a foreigner who has become naturalized in Japan in accordance with the law may vote, since, by the foregoing law, he can attain the status of a Japanese subject. It is in connection with the Law of Election that we find the difference between the treatment meted out to the Japanese subject and the person who has become so only from naturalization. A person naturalized in Japan, a person who has acquired the status of a naturalized citizen as the child of a naturalized person, or a person who has become the adopted child of a Japanese, or the husband of a Japanese woman who is the head of his house—all such have

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