JIP Leader’s Remarks Show Disregard for Parliament: DPFP Chief

Tokyo, July 25 (Jiji Press)–Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, on Friday strongly criticized Hirofumi Yoshimura, leader of the Japan Innovation Party, the country’s junior ruling party, for indicating his intention to hold a referendum on the proposed Osaka metropolis plan on the same day as next spring’s gubernatorial election. Tamaki argued that this would run counter to the intent of a supplementary resolution attached to a bill to create a secondary capital of the country, which was enacted Friday. The resolution calls for maximum efforts to prevent a local referendum and a related election from coinciding. Yoshimura, also governor of the western Japan prefecture of Osaka, is seeking to have Osaka designated as the secondary capital and hold a related local referendum simultaneously with next spring’s gubernatorial election in the prefecture. “We should aim to hold the two polls on the same date,” Yoshimura told reporters after the enactment of the secondary capital bill. Speaking at a party meeting, Tamaki said: “This is an extreme disregard for parliament. It cannot be tolerated.” “We might as well redo the parliamentary deliberations. What was the point of all those discussions?” Tamaki added. Kazuhiko Shigetoku, parliamentary affairs chief of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, also issued a warning over the matter at the party’s meeting on Friday, saying, “We will monitor the situation to ensure that the law is implemented appropriately.” The JIP-proposed Osaka metropolis plan would reorganize the city of Osaka, the capital of Osaka Prefecture, into special wards like Tokyo’s 23 wards. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]