[1] Amid the controversies surrounding the Saitо̄ administration, on September 19, 2024, the Hyōgo Prefectural Assembly submitted a motion of no confidence, which was unanimously passed by 86 votes.

[4][5] The head of the prefectural government bureau for a region called Nishiharima committed suicide on July 7, 2024, after presenting an internal whistleblower document criticizing Governor Saitо̄'s actions in office.

[7] The issue stemmed from a document in which a former senior prefectural official acted as a whistleblower against the governor and others, raising concerns about Saito's alleged power harassment and the receipt of gifts from companies.

[8][9] Saito testified to the Special Investigation Committee with a strong mandate under Article 100 of the Local Autonomy Law that he obtained the document from “a private individual” on March 20.

At a regular press conference on the same day, Saito stated, "The document contains numerous false claims, which raises legal issues such as the loss of credibility and defamation of the staff."

On April 20, the former General Affairs Division Chief, who was mentioned in Watase's whistleblowing document as having developed depression due to the stress from a series of misconduct and covering up, committed suicide.

[17] On April 24, a prefectural assembly member Maki Maruo (Independent) submitted a request to Saito for the establishment of a third-party organization to investigate the contents of the document and conduct a staff survey on the existence of power harassment.

[18] On April 26, Saito reiterated his negative stance on establishing a third-party organization, stating, "The personnel department is conducting with lawyers a detailed investigation.

On June 5, while denying the accusation of power harassment, Saito partially admitted the factuality of the statement in the whistleblowing report for yelling at the staff who made him get out of the car and walk 20 meters at the business trip destination, saying that he provided necessary guidance within the scope of his duties.

[31][32] Aichi: Hideaki Ōmura Akita: Norihisa Satake Aomori: Sōichirō Miyashita Chiba: Toshihito Kumagai Ehime: Tokihiro Nakamura Fukui: Tatsuji Sugimoto Fukuoka: Seitaro Hattori Fukushima: Masao Uchibori Gifu: Hajime Furuta Gunma: Ichita Yamamoto Hiroshima: Hidehiko Yuzaki Hokkaidō: Naomichi Suzuki Hyōgo: Motohiko Saitō Ibaraki: Kazuhiko Ōigawa Ishikawa: Hiroshi Hase Iwate: Takuya Tasso Kagawa: Toyohito Ikeda Kagoshima: Kōichi Shiota Kanagawa: Yūji Kuroiwa Kōchi: Seiji Hamada Kumamoto: Takashi Kimura Kyoto: Takatoshi Nishiwaki Mie: Katsuyuki Ichimi Miyagi: Yoshihiro Murai Miyazaki: Shunji Kōno Nagano: Shuichi Abe Nagasaki: Kengo Oishi Nara: Makoto Yamashita Niigata: Hideyo Hanazumi Ōita: Kiichiro Satō Okayama: Ryuta Ibaragi Okinawa: Denny Tamaki Osaka: Hirofumi Yoshimura Saga: Yoshinori Yamaguchi Saitama: Motohiro Ōno Shiga: Taizō Mikazuki Shimane: Tatsuya Maruyama Shizuoka: Yasutomo Suzuki Tochigi: Tomikazu Fukuda Tokushima: Masazumi Gotoda Tokyo: Yuriko Koike Tottori: Shinji Hirai Toyama: Hachiro Nitta Wakayama: Shūhei Kishimoto Yamagata: Mieko Yoshimura Yamaguchi: Tsugumasa Muraoka Yamanashi: Kotaro Nagasaki