Editing Mie Prefecture (section)

== Government and politics ==
[[File:Meiji Mura 3882282918 fc4d16685b.jpg|thumb|The Meiji-era, former (1879–1964) building of the Mie prefectural government has been reconstructed in the [[Meiji-mura|"Meiji village"]] museum in Aichi.]]
The [[Mie Prefectural Government|prefectural government]] was briefly moved to [[Yokkaichi, Mie|Yokkaichi Town]] in [[Mie District, Ise|Mie District]] in 1872 (hence the name Mie), but the capital moved back to Anotsu, [[Anō District, Ise|Anō District]] (present-day Tsu City) in 1873<ref>Prefectural government: [https://www.bunka.pref.mie.lg.jp/rekishi/kenshi/asp/meiji/detail.asp?record=483 三重県庁舎（津市下部田）] ("Mie prefectural government building (Tsu City, Lower Heta)"), retrieved June 24, 2020.</ref> and has remained there since. Ignoring small changes through cross-prefectural municipal mergers, neighbourhood transfers and coastline variations, Mie reached its present borders in 1876 when it absorbed [[Watarai Prefecture]]. After the modern reactivation of [[Districts of Japan|districts]] in 1878/79, Mie consisted of 21 districts (merged down to 15 in the 1890s).<ref>[http://www.tt.rim.or.jp/~ishato/tiri/gun/map/1889/24mie.htm Map of Mie's districts in January 1889, i.e. before the introduction of cities], [http://www.tt.rim.or.jp/~ishato/tiri/gun/map/1900/24mie.htm Map of Mie's two cities and 15 districts in 1900]</ref> The first prefectural assembly was elected in March 1879 and convened in April.<ref>Prefectural assembly: [http://www.pref.mie.lg.jp/KENGIKAI/07663011795.htm history/chronology since 1878] (Japanese), retrieved June 24, 2020.</ref> In the introduction of modern [[Municipalities of Japan|cities, towns and villages]] in 1889, Anotsu became district-independent as Tsu [[Cities of Japan|City]] and the districts were subdivided into 18 [[Towns of Japan|towns]] and 317 [[Villages of Japan|villages]] (see the [[List of mergers in Mie Prefecture]] for changes since then).

As in all prefectures except Okinawa, the governor of Mie is directly elected since 1947. The [[Mie Prefectural Assembly|prefectural assembly]] has 51 members. Both prefectural elections in Mie are currently held as part of unified local elections. In the last round in 2019, governor [[Eikei Suzuki]] easily won a third term with broad support from [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|LDP]], ''Shinsei Mie'' (see below) and [[Kōmeitō]], against only one, [[Japanese Communist Party|JCP]]-supported challenger;<ref>[[NHK]]SenkyoWeb: [https://www.nhk.or.jp/senkyo/database/touitsu/2019/24/14218/skh45054.html 2019 unified election results/prefectural governors/Mie], retrieved June 24, 2020.</ref> Suzuki was originally [[2011 Japanese unified local elections|elected narrowly in 2011]] as centre-right candidate against centre-left supported Naohisa Matsuda, former mayor of Tsu City. In the Mie assembly, the LDP is strongest party;<ref>[[NHK]]SenkyoWeb: [https://www.nhk.or.jp/senkyo/database/touitsu/2019/24/14219/jyo14219.html 2019 unified election results/prefectural assemblies/Mie] [by nomination in that election, not by party membership, let alone parliamentary group membership, or affiliations at any previous or later point in time] (Japanese), retrieved June 24, 2020.</ref> but it is distributed across several parliamentary groups, and the strongest group is ''Shisei Mie'' (新政みえ; "Renewal Mie") around members of several local parties of former [[Democratic Party of Japan|Democrats]].<ref>Prefectural assembly: [http://www.pref.mie.lg.jp/KENGIKAI/89264000001.htm Members by parliamentary group] (Japanese), retrieved June 24, 2020.</ref>

In the [[National Diet]], Mie is represented by four directly elected members of the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]] and two (one per class) in the [[House of Councillors (Japan)|House of Councillors]]. After the national elections of 2016, 2017 and 2019, Mie's directly elected delegation was evenly split between Liberal Democrats (HR district #1: [[Norihisa Tamura]], #4: [[Noriyo Mitsuya]], HC 2019–25 class: [[Yūmi Yoshikawa]]) and ex-Democrats (HR #2: [[Masaharu Nakagawa (House of Representatives)|Masaharu Nakagawa]], #3: [[Katsuya Okada]], HC 2016–22 class: [[Hirokazu Shiba]]) in both houses of the Diet.

=== Sister states ===
* {{flagicon|China}} [[Henan]], China
* {{flagicon|Brazil}} [[São Paulo (state)|São Paulo]], Brazil
* {{flagicon|Spain}} [[Valencian Community|Valencia]], Spain