Osaka to hold 2nd referendum on metropolis plan

A referendum on the so-called Osaka metropolis plan, which would abolish the ordinance-designated city of Osaka and replace it with four special wards within the prefecture, was announced on Oct. 12.

It will be the second referendum on the plan following one in 2015, with votes to be cast and counted on Nov. 1.

If the referendum wins a majority, the city will be converted into four special wards on Jan. 1, 2025, abolishing for the first time one of the ordinance-designated cities that were institutionalized in 1956.

The referendum is being conducted under the law on the establishment of special wards in major cities, and the results will be legally binding, regardless of the turnout.

About 2.24 million voters in the city, age 18 and older, will be eligible to participate in the referendum.

The proposed system for the metropolis plan focuses on dismantling Osaka City, which has 24 administrative districts with a population of about 2.7 million, and creating four new special wards of about 600,000 to 750,000 residents with powers similar to those of core cities.

The authority for wide-area administration would be centralized in Osaka Prefecture, and the special wards would be responsible for providing services close to residents’ lives.

Toru Hashimoto, who has served as both governor of Osaka Prefecture and mayor of Osaka City, proposed the metropolis plan based on the model of the relationship between the Tokyo metropolitan government and the 23 special wards of Tokyo in order to eliminate the dual administration of the prefecture and the city.

He established the regional political party Osaka Ishin no Kai to realize the plan. After the plan was rejected by a narrow margin in the first referendum in 2015, Hashimoto retired from politics.

Hashimoto’s successor, Ichiro Matsui, the leader of Osaka Ishin, and Hirofumi Yoshimura, the party’s acting leader, both achieved landslide victories in a 2019 double election — with Matsui becoming mayor and Yoshimura becoming governor — paving the way for holding their second referendum.