ITO, SHIZUOKA PREF. 每 Ito Mayor Maki Takubo dissolved the municipal assembly of the city in Shizuoka Prefecture on Wednesday after it passed a no-confidence motion against her in the wake of allegations she had falsified her academic record.

Under a provision in the local autonomy law, the mayor had 10 days to decide whether to resign or dissolve the assembly. As the no-confidence motion was passed Sept. 1, the deadline for her decision was Thursday of this week.

If a fresh no-confidence motion is passed following a municipal assembly election 〞 set to take place within 40 days after the dissolution 〞 Takubo will lose her post.

※I thought that we should seek judgment from citizens in light of the fact that assembly deliberations crucial for people＊s lives were abandoned,§ Takubo told reporters after notifying the assembly of the dissolution.

Takubo, who had claimed that she graduated from Toyo University, a private institution in Japan, said in July that she had, in fact, been expelled from the school.

During a hearing by the assembly＊s special investigation committee last month, Takubo said she learned about her expulsion on June 28.

Determining that this statement was a lie, the assembly unanimously passed the no-confidence resolution.

The local autonomy law stipulates that to pass a no-confidence motion must be supported by three-quarters or more of attending members of a local assembly. This hurdle is lowered to a majority for a fresh no-confidence motion put to a vote during the first session of an assembly after it is elected following its dissolution.

Takubo was elected mayor of the city for the first time in May, after serving previously as an Ito assembly member.

In July, after the suspected academic-record falsification came to light, Takubo announced that she would step down and run in a subsequent mayoral election. She later withdrew the decision to quit and opted to stay on.

The municipal assembly has filed a criminal complaint against Takubo over the allegations that she falsified her academic record.

The complaint was submitted to Ito Police Station within the Shizuoka Prefectural Police department on Tuesday by officials of the assembly, including its head, Hiromichi Nakajima, who argue that the Toyo University diploma presented by Takubo in June was a fake.

It was forged to mislead the public into believing that Takubo had graduated from the private university, the assembly officials said in the complaint.