Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura, also governor of Osaka Prefecture, has indicated a possibility of returning to national politics.

Yoshimura told a meeting of JIP executives in the city of Osaka on Sunday that he aims to conduct a local referendum on the Osaka metropolis plan for regional administrative reorganization, a signature policy of the JIP, by spring 2027.

He went on to say that he would study his possible return to national politics if the metropolis initiative is approved in the referendum, sources said.

At the meeting, the JIP, the coalition partner of the country¡¯s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, decided that Yoshimura would remain JIP leader, without holding a leadership election following the Feb. 8 House of Representatives general election.

In the election, the JIP, also known as Nippon Ishin no Kai, failed to increase its seats markedly.

Yoshimura is apparently aiming to solidify the LDP-JIP ruling coalition through his possible return to national politics.

The metropolis plan, which calls for scrapping the current city of Osaka and reorganizing it into special wards under Osaka Prefecture ¡ª a similar structure to Tokyo¡¯s 23 special wards ¡ª was turned down in local referendums twice, in 2015 and 2020.

Yoshimura resigned from the post of governor last month in his fresh bid for reelection with a renewed pledge to realize the Osaka metropolis project. He secured reelection as Osaka governor in the poll held Feb. 8, the same date as the Lower House election.

¡°I will put what I have promised into action by the end of my current term (as Osaka governor through April 2027),¡± Yoshimura told reporters at the Osaka Prefectural Government office Monday.

Yoshimura won a Lower House seat in the December 2014 general election and served as a lawmaker in the chamber until early October 2015, when he resigned to run in the Osaka mayoral election.