As Osaka enters 2019 with a full political schedule, including local and national elections and the Group of 20 Leaders' Summit, relations between ruling coalition partners Komeito and Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka), a local political party, remain tense, creating potential political problems in both Osaka and for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts toward constitutional revision.
On Wednesday, Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui and Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura skipped a New Year's party at Komeito's Osaka headquarters. The Osaka Ishin leaders, whose party controls a plurality in the prefectural and municipal assemblies and needs Komeito to form a majority, are angry at opposition by Komeito toward an Osaka Ishin-backed plan to hold a referendum on merging Osaka city into four semiautonomous wards.
Matsui claims a 2017 agreement with Komeito, made public last month, means both parties had agreed to hold a referendum before local elections in April. Komeito has said the agreement referred instead to the end of the terms of Matsui and Yoshimura, which expire in November and December.