Photo/Illutration Ito Mayor Maki Takubo, left, hands a document officializing the city assembly's dissolution to the body's chair and vice chair on Sept. 10 in Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture. (Noboru Tomura)

ITO, Shizuoka Prefecture—Faced with the ultimatum to resign or dissolve the city assembly, Mayor Maki Takubo chose the latter on Sept. 10. 

The head of Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture, had until Sept. 11 to decide after a no-confidence motion was passed against her over allegations that she falsified her academic credentials.

Takubo cemented her choice when she handed a document to Hiromichi Nakajima, the city assembly chair, as notice of the dissolution.

Afterward, Takubo told reporters, “My primary reason (for dissolving the assembly) is that I want to seek a public mandate on assembly reform.”

She cited the fact that the no-confidence motion was introduced on the first day of the regular assembly session on Sept. 1, and that it halted preparations for matters such as submitting the appointment of a new head of the education board, a currently vacant position.

Takubo said, “If the assembly had deliberated until the final day, I might have considered other options. Looking at the current state of Ito, I want to place my hopes on new candidates who will change the city.”

The city assembly election for its 20 seats must be held within 40 days of the dissolution, making an Oct. 19 election date highly probable.

Takubo is expected to field new candidates who are aligned with her.

The key focus will be if she can secure the election of at least seven "Takubo-friendly" assembly members, enough to block the no-confidence motion from being passed again in the new assembly.

A special investigative committee of the assembly determined that Takubo had "intentionally falsified" her academic credentials when she claimed to have graduated from Toyo University in Tokyo—when she had actually been expelled.

Consequently, the no-confidence motion was passed unanimously by the city assembly on Sept. 1.

Furthermore, Takubo has been criminally accused of three violations, including breaches of the Public Offices Election Law and the Local Autonomy Law. The Shizuoka prefectural police have accepted the complaints.

Nakajima and others filed a new criminal complaint on Sept. 9 that accuses Takubo of using a forged private document with a seal for alleged instances of quickly flashing a counterfeit diploma when required to show it to others.

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