Tokyo Prefectural Parliament

The Parliament building in the complex of the prefectural government in the district of Nishi-Shinjuku the district Shinjuku

The Tokyo Prefecture Parliament ( Japanese 東京都議会 , Tōkyō togikai , English "Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly") is the parliament of the Japanese prefecture ( to , English "Metropolis") Tokyo . Like all prefectural parliaments, it decides on statutes, the budget (almost 7.5 trillion yen , approx. 60 billion euros in fiscal year 2019 ) and important personnel nominations by the governor for the prefecture administration . The 127 members are elected every four years by non-transferable individual voting in 42 constituencies, most of which correspond to parishes in Tokyo or former counties. Since it came to self-dissolution and new elections after the “Black Fog” corruption scandal (kuroi kiri jiken) in 1965 , Tokyo has been electing its prefectural parliament in a separate election cycle (most recently in 2017 ).

history

Like most prefectures, Tokyo (at that time still - fu ) received a representative body for the first time after the Dajōkan decree on prefectural assemblies of 1878 ( 府県会規則fukenkai kisoku ): the Tōkyō-fukai ( 東京府 )). The first opened in January 1879. The prefectural order (fukensei) of 1890, with which prefectural parliaments were to be elected indirectly, was not implemented in Tokyo before the revised prefectural order of 1899 reintroduced direct elections - as was the case throughout the country until the 1920s Census restrictions , which were initially very high, but were lowered in several steps.

When the city of Tokyo established in 1889 ( Tōkyō- shi ) was dissolved again after the Tōkyō-tosei in 1943, the Tōkyō-fu became the -to and the new prefecture parliament also took over the functions of the previous parliament of the city of Tokyo ( 東京市会 , Tōkyō -shikai ). With the occupation reforms in 1947, Tokyo was largely equated with other prefectures, and the administrative districts on the former territory of the city of Tokyo were replaced by "special districts" ( tokubetsu-ku ) at the municipal level, which resulted in independent municipal administrations with mayors and municipal parliaments. However, it took decades later until these other municipalities in Tokyo and elsewhere were largely equated, and to this day the prefectural administration and thus also the prefectural parliament for the area of the "special districts" has some normally communal responsibilities.

Elections and composition

Group strengths in the prefecture parliament
(as of July 7, 2020)

A total of 127 seats

Tomin First no Kai : 50

LDP : 26

Kōmeitō : 23

CPY : 18

Rikken Minshutō ・ Minshu Club (" Constitutional Democratic Party , Democratic Club"): 5

Tōkyō Mirai ("Tokyo Future"; from former Tomin First MPs): 3

Non-attached : Tōkyō Seikatsusha Network : 1

Non-attached : Jiyū o mamoru kai (~ "Association that protects freedom"; Ex-Tomin-First): 1

The Tokyo Prefectural Parliament today has 127 members from 42 constituencies, including seven single-mandate constituencies in which the non-transferable individual votes become winner-take-all. The constituencies with the largest number of seats are the dieta and Setagaya districts , each with eight members. Tokyo's only urban district to date with a statutory metropolitan status, Hachiōji , elects five MPs. The island constituency has the highest voting weight with more than threefold overrepresentation: In the nine municipalities on the Izu and Ogasawara Islands there were 21,818 voters in the 2017 election (0.20% of all those eligible to vote in the prefecture), together they elect one representative (0, 79% of the prefectural parliament).

In the prefecture parliamentary election on July 2, 2017 which won Tomin First no Kai of Governor Yuriko Koike 55 seats (49 + 6 nachnominierte Independent) previously strongest Liberal Democratic Party undercut with 23 seats it previously historically worst result of 1965 / 2009 . The Kōmeitō , which was one of Koike's supporters at the time of the election, also won 23 seats, the Communist Party of Japan won 19. At the same time as the gubernatorial election in July 2020 , four parliamentary by-elections were held.

organization

The plenary hall

Bureau

The parliament elects a president (gichō) and a vice-president (fuku-gichō) from among its members , usually at the beginning of an electoral term or after resignation. The President represents the prefectural parliament externally, chairs meetings and oversees the secretariat of the prefectural parliament (togikai jimukyoku) . The Vice President represents the President if necessary.

It has recently been customary for the president to come from the largest parliamentary group and the vice-president from the second largest. Current (as of September 2019), 49th togikai President is Ryōichi Ishikawa ( Tomin First , constituency South-Tama), the 43rd Vice-President is Seigō Tachibana ( Kōmeitō , constituency Itabashi )

Session periods

There is one regular meeting ( 定例会 , teireikai ) every quarter, they are convened by the governor in February, June, September and December and typically last about a month. On their own initiative or at the request of a quarter of the deputies, the governor or the president can also convene special sessions ( 臨時会 , rinjikai ).

Committees

There are nine standing committees (jōnin iinkai) of the Tokyo Prefecture Parliament under the current statutes , for: general affairs (sōmu) , finances (zaimu) , culture and education (bunkyō) , "town planning " (toshi seibi) , social affairs (kōsei) , Economy & Ports (keizai ・ kōwan) , Environment & Construction (kankyō ・ kensetsu) , Public Enterprises (kōei kigyō) , Police & Fire Brigade (keisatsu ・ shōbō) . These have a fixed distribution of responsibilities for offices of the prefecture administration. A committee of rules of procedure ( gikai un'ei iinkai , literally “parliamentary business committee”) is formed from leading representatives from all political groups to advise on organizational issues. In addition, special committees (tokubetsu iinkai) can be set up; In March 2019 there were two: one for the Olympic & Paralympic Games & the Rugby World Cup and the special budget committee - the latter is regularly set up for budget deliberations, similar to auditing committees for budget closing.