The Hyogo Prefectural gubernatorial election, in which seven candidates ran, the largest number in history, was held on the 17th, and former governor Saito Motohiko declared victory at his election office in Chuo Ward, Kobe City. Saito lost his job in September after the prefectural assembly passed a vote of no confidence over allegations of power harassment and other allegations made by a former senior prefectural official, and was running again without a seat on the ballot. Saito: "It's truly a victory for each and every citizen of the prefecture," "I will humbly accept the various criticisms" At around 9:40 p.m. on the 17th, amid a large crowd gathered in front of his office in the Motomachi shopping district of Kobe, Saito appeared, and a "Saito call" erupted. Holding the microphone, Saito said, "First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of you for your support. Once again, I am very sorry that the document issue caused anxiety to the people of the prefecture about the prefectural government. What I felt during the election campaign was that the people of the prefecture had high expectations of me to make more reforms and move the prefectural government forward. I have made a strong decision that I do not want to stop moving forward." He then stated, "The future of prefectural administration is truly important. Our journey towards realizing a 'dynamic Hyogo' has just begun. I will humbly accept the various criticisms and suggestions. I will restart my relationship with prefectural officials and work steadily to move forward with policies together with the prefectural assembly. I will work to build a relationship of trust with the mayor once again. It is important to move prefectural administration forward together with all the citizens of the prefecture, 'All Hyogo.'" He also spoke of the excitement surrounding the election campaign on social media, saying, "I didn't like the harsh comments to begin with, but the support has spread so far and I feel that social media has a positive side. Each and every citizen of the prefecture has decided what is true and what should be. I think this is a victory for each and every citizen of the prefecture," which drew cheers from the supporters who had gathered. ■ No-confidence motion over "power harassment allegations" and other accusatory documents leads to re-election Seven candidates, the highest number ever, ran in the gubernatorial election: former House of Councillors member Takayuki Shimizu (50), former Amagasaki mayor Kazumi Inamura (52), former Hyogo governor Motohiko Saito (47), Communist Party-endorsed doctor Yoshikiyo Osawa (61), company manager Shigeyuki Fukumoto (58), NHK Party to Protect the People leader Takashi Tachibana (57), and company manager Hirotsugu Kijima (49). Six newcomers, including former Diet members and mayors, are taking on former governor Saito, who lost his job due to a no-confidence motion in the prefectural assembly, and the main issues in the election were the evaluation of the former governor's three years of prefectural administration and the pros and cons of handling the issue of accusatory documents by former senior officials. As of 7 p.m., the turnout rate was 31.17%, about 7 points higher than the previous gubernatorial election in 2021. The turnout rate for early voting up until the day before was 20.96%, with 944,541 people having already voted, an increase of 340,000 from the previous gubernatorial election in 2021, the highest number ever. ▼Feature videos, in-depth commentary, and the latest news delivered daily Please subscribe to our channel! / @ytv_news ▼Submit information here: "Submission Box" https://www.ytv.co.jp/toukou_box/ ▼Yomiuri TV News Bureau's social media TikTok / ytvnews X (formerly Twitter) / news_ytv ▼Yomiuri TV News https://www.ytv.co.jp/press/ ▼Kansai Information Network ten. Facebook / ytvten Instagram / ytv.ten X (formerly Twitter) / ytvnewsten Website https://www.ytv.co.jp/ten/ ▼Information Live Miyaneya https://www.ytv.co.jp/miyaneya/ ▼Wake Up X (formerly Twitter) / ytvwakeup Website https://www.ytv.co.jp/wakeup/