Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto formally submitted his resignation Friday to the head of the municipal assembly, setting the stage for a snap election in mid or late March.
"I would like to seek a fresh mandate from voters to achieve a breakthrough" in the plan to merge the Osaka Prefectural and Municipal governments into a single metropolitan government along the lines of Tokyo, he said.
Hashimoto wants his resignation to take effect Feb. 15.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.