OKAYAMA, Japan (Kyodo) -- A Japanese high court ruled Thursday that the disparity in the weight of votes of up to 2.06-fold in the House of Representatives election last October was constitutional.

It was the first ruling among 16 lawsuits filed across the country at 14 high courts and their branches by groups of lawyers claiming the vote weight disparity in the lower house races violated the Constitution's requirement for fair elections.

The ruling by the Okayama branch of the Hiroshima High Court came after the disparity in the weight of votes between the most and least populated single-seat constituencies narrowed from up to 2.08-fold in the previous lower house election in 2021.

The narrowing of the disparity came after a revised law enacted in 2022 redrew boundaries and redistributed single-seat districts, affecting a total of 140 constituencies.

The plaintiffs are seeking a nullification of the results and an election rerun in all 289 single-seat districts.

The rulings will conclude with that of the Fukuoka High Court on March 7. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the matter as early as the next fiscal year, which runs through March 2026.

The top court said the highest disparity of 2.08-fold in the 2021 lower house election was constitutional as parliament had made efforts to redress differences in the weight of votes.