Chapter 8. Local Self-Government

Consisting of articles 92 through 95, this short chapter declares that the principle of local autonomy shall govern local government. Residents of each locale have the right to elect representatives for a representative assembly. That assembly bears the responsibility to govern the locale’s finances, property, and administration. The Diet may not make laws affecting one public entity without its resident’s consent. In order to alleviate the disproportionate influence of low-population rural prefectures, proposals have arisen to combine some neighboring rural prefectures to form a single electoral district, but because the result might deny a prefecture its own representative to the Diet, debate about constitutional revision has identified a need to amend this chapter to prevent such an outcome.

Chapter 8. Local Self-Government

Article 92. Regulations concerning organization and operations of local public entities shall be fixed by law in accordance with the principle of local autonomy.

Article 93. The local public entities shall establish assemblies as their deliberative organs, in accordance with law.
The chief executive officers of all local public entities, the members of their assemblies, and such other local officials as may be determined by law shall be elected by direct popular vote within their several communities.

Article 94. Local public entities shall have the right to manage their property, affairs and administration and to enact their own regulations within law.

Article 95. A special law, applicable only to one local public entity, cannot be enacted by the Diet without the consent of the majority of the voters of the local public entity concerned, obtained in accordance with law.