Photo/Illutration Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito shows how he banged on a desk before his subordinates during a meeting of the prefectural assembly’s special investigation committee in Kobe on Sept. 6. (Pool)

KOBE—All blocs in the Hyogo prefectural assembly will call for Governor Motohiko Saito to resign mainly over his handling of a whistleblower’s accusations of power harassment and corruption.

Ishin no Kai, the second-largest group of assembly members, on the afternoon of Sept. 9 demanded that Saito step down and call a gubernatorial election.

Daisuke Katayama, an Upper House member who heads regional political party Hyogo Ishin no Kai, and prefectural assembly members submitted a document to Deputy Governor Yohei Hattori calling for Saito’s resignation.

Saito was summoned as a sworn witness on Aug. 30 and Sept. 6 to meetings of the prefectural assembly’s special investigation committee looking into the scandal.

Ishin no Kai, affiliated with Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), said Sept. 8 that Saito’s remarks were hardly satisfying for prefectural residents and that he has disturbed prefectural administration.

The Liberal Democratic Party, the largest group in the assembly, decided on Sept. 6 that it will ask Saito on Sept. 12 to resign on grounds that he bears heavy moral and political responsibilities for causing confusion in prefectural administration.

The LDP also called for other assembly blocs to join.

Komeito, Hyogo Kenmin Rengo and the Japanese Communist Party have decided to support the LDP plan, according to sources. Four independents in the assembly may also fall into line.

Hyogo Kenmin Rengo includes assembly members of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

The scandal broke in March when a senior prefectural government official accused Saito and his aides of bullying subordinates and receiving goods from businesses.

The official, who distributed a document outlining his accusations to prefectural assembly members and media organizations, was found dead in July in an apparent suicide.

He had reported the case under the prefectural government’s whistleblowing system in April.

But the prefectural government did not protect the official as a whistleblower and suspended him for three months based on its in-house investigation in May.

Saito told the special investigation committee that there were no legal problems with the procedures of the prefectural government.

Saito, a former central government bureaucrat, was elected governor in 2021 with support from the LDP and Nippon Ishin.

Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura, Nippon Ishin’s co-representative, called Saito over the weekend to persuade him to resign and call a gubernatorial election, Fumitake Fujita, the party’s secretary-general, said Sept. 9.

Saito told Yoshimura that he has taken note of his opinion, according to Fujita.

The governor hinted on the morning of Sept. 9 that he would defy the assembly blocs’ calls for his ouster, although he would not squarely respond to questions about his intentions.

“My thoughts are that I will continue to address the issue at the special investigation committee and a third-party organization, and that I will continue to move forward with projects that are important to the lives of prefectural residents,” he said.

If Saito refuses to accept the calls for resignation, Hyogo Kenmin Rengo plans to submit a no-confidence motion against him in the ordinary assembly session that opens on Sept. 19.

The LDP is also considering submitting a no-confidence motion.

The passage of a no-confidence motion requires attendance of two-thirds or more of the assembly’s 86 members and approval of three-fourths or more of the members present.

The LDP holds 37 seats, followed by 21 of Ishin no Kai and 13 of Komeito. Hyogo Kenmin Rengo and the Japanese Communist Party have nine and two, respectively.

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