Local government chiefs and assemblies are the two pillars of local autonomy. Simply reducing a local assembly’s seats risks disturbing the balance of power between the two. It could also undermine the ability of an assembly to respond to the diverse needs of local residents and check the actions of the local government head.

The Osaka municipal assembly has passed a proposal to revise an ordinance for reducing the number of its seats from 81 to 70, handing a political victory to Osaka Ishin no Kai, a regional political party which led the initiative.

Osaka Ishin, the regional affiliate of Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), pledged to slash the number of municipal assembly members in its campaign for this spring’s unified local elections. As it won a majority of assembly seats for the first time, the party rushed to deliver on the promise, which is in line with its “self-sacrificing reform” agenda.

Ishin has been at the business of pruning the assembly since it won the Osaka mayoral election in 2011. The number of seats was cut by three in 2017 and by an additional two in 2022. This time, a much lager reduction of 11 seats was made.

One seat has been taken from each of the 11 constituencies with three to six seats. This formula has been adopted to avoid creating a new single-seat district while keeping the vote disparity between the most populated and least populated constituencies to below a factor of 2. This will work in favor of dominant parties and incumbents, making it harder for smaller groups and first-time candidates to win seats. There is no question that Ishin will be the main beneficiary of the move.

The number of municipal assembly members versus the population in Osaka is relatively small. The latest reduction will make it the second smallest among the 20 ordinance-designated major cities. Yokohama’s figure is the smallest.

Reducing assembly seats helps cut public spending in terms of salaries and allowances paid to the members. But it should also be noted that downsizing a local assembly inevitably lowers the representation of minorities.

Ishin staged a similar campaign in the Osaka prefectural assembly as soon as the party secured a majority. The number of prefectural assembly seats has been trimmed from 109 to 79. This represents a reduction of nearly 30 percent over the past 10 years or so.

The assemblies of Kanagawa and Aichi prefectures, whose populations are similar in size to Osaka’s, have more than 100 members. Osaka’s prefectural assembly stands out for its small size.

Particularly problematic is a significant increase in the number of single-seat districts, which now account for 36 of the 53 constituencies, or nearly 70 percent. The situation means more “dead votes” for unsuccessful candidates, a trend that runs counter to the imperative of meeting the needs of diverse voters.

Many local assemblies have started cutting their seats in response to depopulation and a shortage of local residents willing to take the job. But Osaka is clearly different from these areas. It is hard to claim that Ishin, which is pursuing radical reforms that existing administrative organizations or other parties are incapable of achieving, has promoted careful efforts by the local assemblies to build consensus on policy issues while paying due attention to minority opinions.

Symbolic of Ishin’s political approach is how it responded to a proposal to hold a local referendum on a plan to develop an integrated resort featuring a casino. A group of voters in Osaka Prefecture secured far more signatures than were required by law to demand a new ordinance to hold such a referendum. In July last year, however, the Ishin-controlled prefectural assembly voted down the petition after only one day of deliberations.

Ishin stresses that its initiative to reduce assembly seats is supported by the local voting public. But that only reflects voters’ discontent with the poor job performances of local assembly members.

The Osaka assemblies should first focus on improving their track records instead of downsizing themselves.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 13