With just over two weeks until Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's term ends on Dec. 18, Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui has called for a general meeting of his breakaway Osaka Ishin no To (with Osaka in hiragana) national party to elect new leaders.
Hashimoto, who is serving as Osaka Ishin no To's provisional leader until he finishes as mayor, will become the party's legal policy adviser afterward.
Matsui is expected to be one of the main party leaders. But who will fill out the party's final leadership structure after Hashimoto leaves has yet to be formalized, and questions remain about how the organizational relationship between Osaka-based local officials and those in the Diet will work in practice.
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