Unanimous Request for Resignation of Governor

Hyogo Prefectural Assembly submitted unanimous request of resignation of Governor Motohiko Saito on September 12. Saito has been doubted as illegally exercised investigation on a whistleblower on governor’s power harassment. It is likely that Saito will face a choice between stepping down and dissolving the assembly. It is unusual for a prefectural governor to receive unanimous rejection from assembly. Although Saito still seeks a way out from this stalemate, he is in a situation in which he cannot continue his work as a governor.

A bureau chief in Hyogo prefectural government distributed a report to the assembly members and news organizations in March, which revealed Saito’s inappropriately harsh behavior on his staffs and receiving luxury goods from a company he visited. Denying the facts on the report, Saito fired the bureau chief. The assembly decided to set up a special investigation committee for the issue, but the bureau chief died in July before the committee was convened.

 

In the special committee, one of the talking points is whether the action of the bureau chief was a whistleblowing for public interest. Whistleblower Protection Act prohibits business operator to conduct any disadvantageous treatment on the basis of whistleblowing. An expert testified in the committee that the distribution of report by the bureau chief would be recognized as a whistleblowing to be protected.

 

It was revealed that Hyogo government made a search about who had been the whistleblower. It made an interview to three staffs including the bureau chief in March, after obtaining their emails for a previous year. There is a testimony that Saito asked his staff if he could impose punishment on those staffs before the government’s third-party investigation would bring a conclusion.

 

Saito was elected governor in 2021 with endorsement of Liberal Democratic Party and Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin-no Kai). But, LDP decided on September 6 to demand his resignation, followed by the Constitutional Democratic Party, Komeito and Japan Communist Party. Ishin lastly joined the parties, recommending Saito to step down and run again in next gubernatorial election for reconfirming support from the people in Hyogo.

 

It is likely that the assembly will pass a non-confidence resolution against Saito as soon as September 19. Saito will have to resign as far as he would not dissolve the assembly. If the assembly is dissolved, has general election, new assembly is convoked and it passes the non-confidence resolution again, Saito will have to step down immediately.

 

The question is whether the people in Hyogo approve further political gridlock over power harassment in the government or political survival game of the governor. Even if Saito chooses the course of resignation and run for the governor again, he seems to have little chance to win with no support from any party.

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