Osaka Ishin no Kai has abandoned its plan to elect each new special ward's assembly from a single citywide district, opting instead to keep the current 24 administrative wards as electoral units, Sankei Shimbun reported.
The switch was proposed at a statutory council of the Osaka prefectural and city governments on the 10th and accepted there. The council is the body handling the Osaka metropolis plan, which would abolish Osaka city and reorganize it into several special wards.
Ishin had initially adopted a large-district system, in which each special ward's entire area would form one electoral district. At a September 18 council meeting, the party settled the number of assembly members for the four special wards at between 13 and 22.
An Ishin council member defended the large-district system at the time, saying it would do more to draw out the voices of minority factions.
Narrower districts, fewer seats
Critics pointed out that under a large-district system, a candidate based in a sparsely populated administrative ward might not be able to win a seat. The party debated the issue internally.
Ishin's Osaka city assembly caucus decided on the 10th to move to administrative-ward units. Caucus secretary-general Takashi Takeshita said the change would allow the transition without confusing residents.
In general, the narrower an electoral district, the fewer seats it carries, and the easier it is for a majority faction to win them. Ishin holds a majority in the city assembly.
Komeito's city caucus secretary-general, Norito Nishi, criticized the move, saying it "has a strong element of discarding the will of the people." Yoshihisa Moriyama, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party's city caucus, said the direction was "completely different from the start" and that it favored Ishin.