The chiefs of 47 councils across Japanese provinces and prefectures have put a halt to Tokyo's plan to grant suffrage to permanent foreign residents in provincial elections.

The Yomiuri Shimbun daily says an association of council chairmen held an assembly Thursday and adopted a resolution saying that suffrage must not be recklessly implemented and that local opinions must be gathered before the bill is submitted.

Earlier, Sadakazu Tanigaki, the president of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, also expressed his opposition to the plan on a recent TV program.

Overall, opposition to granting voting rights to foreigners is spreading among Japanese conservatives.