A national group of prefectural assembly heads urged the government Thursday to canvass local opinions before "hastily" submitting a bill to the ongoing Diet session to grant local-level suffrage to permanent foreign residents.
Although the group refrained from clarifying its position about granting such residents the right to vote in local elections, the move is an apparent attempt to put the brakes on the planned legislation.
"The issue concerns the essential part of democracy and will have a serious effect on the function of local autonomy," the group said in a resolution adopted at a regular general meeting in Tokyo.
The group plans to exchange notes with the ruling and opposition parties in the near future.