Komeito Agrees to Support Osaka Metropolis Plan

May 26, 2019

Osaka- The Komeito party's local chapter in Osaka Prefecture agreed Saturday to support an administrative reorganization plan of Osaka Ishin no Kai, a regional party based in the western Japan prefecture.

They also agreed to draw up a concrete design for the so-called Osaka metropolis plan by June next year, paving the way for a second local referendum on the project to be held as early as autumn next year.

At a meeting on Saturday evening, senior officials of the two parties confirmed that Komeito supports the metropolis vision and cooperates with Osaka Ishin to realize it.

The meeting was attended by Osaka Ishin leader Ichiro Matsui, who doubles as mayor of the city of Osaka, the prefecture's capital, Hirofumi Yoshimura, Osaka Ishin policy chief and Osaka governor, and Shigeki Sato, head of the prefectural chapter of Komeito.

At a press conference after the meeting, Matsui said: "We had constructive discussions. A final decision on whether to accept the metropolis plan should be made by residents."

Sato said that Komeito hopes to come up with a good blueprint for the project with Osaka Ishin.

Komeito, the ruling coalition partner of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party in national politics, had opposed the metropolis plan, which calls for reorganizing the prefectural capital into special wards like those in Tokyo.

After Matsui and Yoshimura won big in the Osaka mayoral and gubernatorial elections, respectively, in April, however, Komeito announced its intention to cooperate for holding a second referendum on the plan on condition that the metropolis plan does not lead to a drop in the quality of administrative services.

Osaka Ishin has since been pressing Komeito to back the metropolis plan itself.

The metropolis plan was narrowly rejected in the first referendum, held in May 2015.

Komeito's support is expected to have a major impact on a second referendum's result, observers said. Jiji Press