Politics of Osaka City
Politics of
The administration is headed by a mayor directly elected by the people every four years in first-past-the-post elections. Enacting and amending city ordinances, passing the budget and approving important administrative appointments, including the vice-mayors and the treasurer, are handled by the city assembly that is directly elected by the people every four years by single-non transferable vote. As in all prefectures and municipalities, citizens may initiate chokusetsu seikyū ("direct demands"), i.e. mayor and assembly are subject to recall referendums, and the people can influence policies directly via petitions and plebiscites.
Osaka City is the prefectural capital of
Historical background
As one of Japan's three most important cities (the "three capitals", santo:
National representation
Osaka City is covered by six of Osaka's 19 electoral districts for the
Prefectural representation
As in all designated cities, Osaka City's wards serve as electoral districts for the Osaka Prefectural Assembly. Most are single- or two-member districts. Together they elect 33 of the 109 members of the assembly.[1]
Mayor
Osaka City's current mayor is Tōru Hashimoto who had resigned as Osaka governor in 2011 to run in the mayoral election against incumbent Kunio Hiramatsu. Hashimoto won a clear victory even though Hiramatsu was supported by the established parties including the Japanese Communist Party who had for the first time since 1963 not nominated their own mayoral candidate to prevent Hashimoto's alleged "fascist, dictatorial" policies.[2] As mayor, Hashimoto supports the implementation of the Osaka Metropolis plan, opposes unions[3][4] particularly the unions of public sector workers (local public servants union, teachers union, transportation workers union), and has taken an anti-nuclear stance in the energy policy debate after the earthquake in 2011. While Hashimoto's reformism is popular among his supporters not only in the city or the prefecture but nationwide (where he and his party threaten to contest elections if the national Diet obstructs his reforms), opponents see him as a populist and criticize his leadership style as authoritarian,[5][6] also referred to as "Hashism" (ハシズム).[7][8]
Mayoral elections had been held as part of unified regional elections since 1947 until 1971 when Kaoru Chūma's death caused an early election.
Previous independent mayors of Osaka City (for the governors of the prefecture who also had served as mayors of the prefectural capital before 1898, see the List of governors of Osaka Prefecture):[9]
- Tahee Tamura, 1898–1901,
- Sadakichi Tsuruhara, 1901–1905,
- Shigetake Yamashita, 1905–1909,
- Shunpei Uemura, 1910–1912,
- Kaneyuki Kimotsuke, 1913,
- Shirō Ikegami, 1913–1923,
- Hajime Seki, 1923–1935,
- Takeo Kagami, 1935–1936,
- Muneji Sakama, 1936–1945,
- Mitsuji Nakai, 1945–1946,
- S), 1 term, 1947–1951, the first mayor after the introduction of direct popular election,
- Mitsuji Nakai (I), 3 terms, 1951–1963
- Kaoru Chūma (I–S, JCP, DSP), 3 terms, 1963–1971 (died in office),
- Kōmeitō, DSP, additionally Socialist support in his third and fourth elections), 4 terms, 1971–1987,
- Masaya Nishio, 2 terms, 1987–1995,
- Takafumi Isomura (I), 2 terms, 1995–2003,
- Jun'ichi Seki (I, Liberal Democratic and Kōmeitō support in the 2005 and 2007 elections), 2 terms, 2003–2005 (resigned) and 2005–2007,
- D, PNP, additionally Liberal Democratic, Kōmeitō and JCP support in the 2011 election), 1 term, 2007–2011.
Council
The Osaka City Council (as in some other major cities shikai, not shigikai) has 86 members who are elected by single non-transferable vote every four years in unified regional elections. The wards serve as electoral districts, each elects between two and six council members. In the
The current composition of the assembly is as follows (as of October 23, 2017):[10]
Composition of the Osaka City Council | |
---|---|
Parliamentary group | Seats |
Osaka Restoration Association (Ōsaka Ishin no Kai, "Ōsaka renewal assembly") | 33 |
Liberal Democratic Party | 20 |
Kōmeitō ("Justice Party")
|
19 |
Japanese Communist Party | 9 |
Go OSAKA | 1 |
Osaka Abe | 1 |
Total | 83 |
The current assembly president is Masahiko Yamashita (Ōsaka Ishin, Yodogawa ward electoral district), the vice president is Naoki Akashi (Kōmeitō, Joto ward).[11]
External links
- Osaka City Government (in Japanese), basic information in English
- Osaka City Council (in Japanese), basic information in English
- Wikisource: 市制中東京市京都市大阪市ニ特例ヲ設クルノ件, the imperial ordinance of 1889 that barred the city councils of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto from electing their mayors and installed the respective (Home Ministryappointed) prefectural governors as mayors
References
- ^ Osaka prefectural election commission: Electoral districts for the prefectural assembly
- ^ The Japan Times, November 8, 2011: Stunner: JCP skips Osaka mayor race
- ^ The Japan Times, February 8, 2012: [www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120208a5.html Hashimoto group claims union tried to tip election]
- ^ The Japan Times, May 27, 2012: Hashimoto stalks anthem foes
- ^ The Japan Times, March 27, 2012: Old guard see despot in Hashimoto. Brash upstart recruiting legions, mainly male, to rock political boat
- ^ The Japan Times Editorial, December 1, 2011: Populist storm in Osaka
- ^ Asahi Shimbun, AJW (Asia & Japan Watch), March 3, 2012: Critics say 'Hashism' is a symptom of the degradation of politics Archived 2012-07-07 at archive.today
- ^ The Economist, January 28, 2012: Generational warfare. Two rival political visions emerge for reviving Japan. Will they clash?
- ^ Osaka City government: Historical mayors and vice-mayors
- ^ Osaka City Council: Members by parliamentary group
- ^ Osaka City Council: President and Vice President