Osaka voters rejected a referendum on Sunday that would have
dramatically reorganized the Osaka city government into a large
metropolitan entity, like Tokyo.
The defeat was a stunning rejection of a pet reform project of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, an effort he started in 2010.
At a news conference in Osaka after the referendum went down
to defeat, Hashimoto said he would keep his promise to retire from
politics if it failed and will step down when his term as mayor ends in
December.
The result means not only that the Osaka city government will
remain unchanged, but that political dynamics at the national level
will also move in a different direction.
If Hashimoto leaves the political stage in December, the
Osaka Restoration Party, regional party of the Japan Innovation Party, that he established in 2010 with former right wing Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, would have
less impact on its national counterpart, the Japan Innovation Party.
The Japan Innovation Party would likely strengthen its stance
as an opposition party in the Diet, and the Abe administration may have
to revise its strategy for revising the Constitution without the Japan
Innovation Party as an ally.
With an Upper House election scheduled for the summer of
2016, some Japan Innovation Party lawmakers, especially those without a
base in Osaka, could bolt the party and join forces with the opposition
Democratic Party of Japan.
AFP
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