TOKYO- Japan's House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill to reduce seats and rezone electoral constituencies for the lower chamber of parliament, in order to correct vote-value disparities.

The Lower House approved the bill by a majority vote mainly from the ruling coalition and the major opposition Democratic Party, and sent it to the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, for further deliberations.

The bill to revise the public offices election law is expected to be enacted during the current regular parliamentary session, now scheduled to end on June 18.

Elections under the new constituency zoning are expected to become possible this summer, following a get-acquainted period of about a month after the bill's enactment.

The legislation calls for reducing the number of Lower House seats by six for single-seat constituencies and by four for proportional representation regional blocs, decreasing the overall number of the chamber's seats to a post-World War II low of 465. (Jiji Press)