In Fukuoka, the vox populi remains unheard. It has come to light that 80% of the citizen proposals sent to the city assemblies of Kitakyushu and Fukuoka between May 2011 and March 2015 ended up being shelved, with no votes ever cast on whether or not to accept them. Meanwhile, in the seven prefectural assemblies of Kyushu and the city assembly of Kumamoto, only about 10% of proposals received from citizens were never officially ruled on. One member of the Fukuoka City Assembly who belongs to the Liberal Democratic Party said citizens will become upset if the assembly rules against their proposals, no matter how unrealistic they may be. A member of the Kitakyushu City Assembly said that instead of axing proposals and drawing the ire of local citizens, they are often left to languish. A political scientist from Nihon University warns that making a habit of such behavior can lead people to stop trusting in their elected officials. He suggests establishing a rule in which city assemblies must vote to accept or deny citizen proposals within one year. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 6/28
