Osaka City Council not to approve mayor's resignation

Key factions from major political parties in the Osaka City Council will not consent to the mayor's decision to resign from his post, which was announced earlier this month, in the assembly session convenes on Friday, local press reported. Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, also co-leader of the opposition Japan Restoration Party, announced last week that he will run in a snap election for mayor soon after resigning from his post to gain further public support for his "Osaka Metropolis Plan" that would merge the prefectural and municipal governments. After the announcement, members of the municipal assembly have avoided automatically approving the mayor's resignation proposal and each political party has been withholding their stance on the idea, stating that such an attitude by the mayor does not respect the assembly as well as local residents, but instead attracts " voters' attention" in Hashimoto's pursuit of his own "selfish" interests. On Thursday, prior to the assembly session, key members of the council from major political parties including the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the New Komeito party and the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), who said the election will only drain the tight budget that led the mayor to urge all sections of the municipal to contain their costs, held talks and finally came to the conclusion not to approve the mayor' s resignation, Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), Japan's public broadcaster, said. Under such circumstances, Hashimoto will continue to serve as mayor until Feb. 27 when he will leave the post. According to the city, the next mayoral election is scheduled for March 23, which was already determined by law regardless of whether the assembly consents to the resignation or not.