Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto plans to tender his resignation to the city assembly today. This move is nothing more than a political gambit after he hit a snag concerning his plan to integrate Osaka Prefecture and the city of Osaka to form one metropolitan entity, Osaka-to. By calling a snap mayoral election, he hopes to secure Osaka city residents' support for his plan and increase momentum for it. Although he may think his move is logical, his resignation is too sudden and coincides with the city government's compilation of a budget for fiscal 2014. In addition, the snap election will cost about ¥600 million. His resignation and the snap election will negatively affect the lives of Osaka residents.
Opposition forces in the city assembly have frustrated his approach to the Osaka integration plan. He appears to think that if he wins in the coming election, it will give him carte blanche to force his approach on the assembly. Otherwise, he would not have called a snap election. But he should realize that city assembly members were elected through an election and thus represent the will of Osaka residents just as he, as a mayor elected through an election, represents the will of the residents.
His decision reveals that he does not appreciate the basic structure of local autonomy, in which local legislative decisions are made through consultations and compromise between a mayor and an assembly, both of which are elected through elections.