EDITORIAL: Nagoya mayoral follies

Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura has expressed his intention to resign. He did so as soon as it was announced that signatures for a petition calling for the dissolution of the municipal assembly fell short of the required number. Kawamura had taken an initiative in leading the movement.

Of the 460,000 signatures, the municipal election committee invalidated 110,000. A large number of protests were filed against the committee until the deadline on Wednesday. Depending on the outcome of future reviews, the decision may be overturned.

Despite such circumstances, the mayor said he wants to draw a line by resigning and seeking re-election. We can't accept his decision at face value.

To begin with, Kawamura had openly voiced his plan to hold three elections simultaneously: the Aichi gubernatorial election, a municipal election after recalling the assembly, and a mayoral election. Although his plans to hold a municipal election fell apart on the failure of the recall, he still intends to go ahead with his idea.

Kawamura's plan is to have a Liberal Democratic Party Lower House member with whom he has close ties run in the gubernatorial election in February, hold a mayoral election at the same time and win at both.

Like the Nagoya assembly in the past, the prefectural assembly had until recently been run with the cooperation of all parties, with the exception of the Japanese Communist Party. Kawamura is stirring public expectations, saying this is a chance for reform.

However, Kawamura took office having won 510,000 votes in April 2009 and has yet to serve more than half his term. Now he plans to quit for the advantage of another election. Does such behavior meet the expectations of voters?

December to February is the time of year for the city to compile its budget. Nagoya's general account budget alone amounts to 1 trillion yen (11.88 billion). It is a chance to demonstrate the mayor's leadership by incorporating his advocated cut in resident taxes, while maintaining current public services through reforms to create revenue.

While Kawamura says the budget will be compiled as planned, can the city do this in earnest with the absence of a mayor? Even if he wins the election, is it possible to re-examine the budget in time for the assembly session immediately after the election?

The purpose of the proposed recall was to implement a permanent cut in residential taxes, cut assembly members' salaries by half and expand regional committees with citizen participation, which the assembly turned down. But Kawamura's victory in the election will not change the situation in the assembly, nor will a win by his ally in another poll.

In September, citizens worked hard in the late summer heat to collect signatures. The effect of a tax cut would amount to only about 10,000 yen for workers who earn 5 million yen a year. Even the elderly who said they don't pay taxes stood on street corners asking for signatures. Apparently, they pinned their hopes on Kawamura's ability to break down walls to change a society that remains inactive and has no way to rescue itself.

As a politician, we urge Kawamura to follow a path of steadily reflecting such expectations of citizens in his policies.

Meanwhile, the momentum for reform has rapidly slowed in the assembly. Dismayed at the prospects of a recall, some members have proposed a voluntary dissolution or tax cuts. But an agreement is nowhere in sight.

The city should promptly present a proposal to respond to the public will that was demonstrated by the large number of petition signatures and implement it without delay. Thus, the municipal assembly election in April will be a test.

For both local government leaders and assembly members, what they need to demonstrate is the power of politics itself.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 2