Voters in Japan's western prefecture of Hyogo have re-elected a former governor after he lost his post amid power harassment and other accusations.

Saito Motohiko won Sunday's gubernatorial election by defeating six other candidates, including former Amagasaki Mayor Inamura Kazumi.

Saito used to work at the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry and the Osaka prefectural government.

He won a Hyogo gubernatorial election for the first time in 2021 with support from the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party.

The 47-year-old chose to automatically lose his position as governor in September after the prefectural assembly passed a no-confidence motion against him over power harassment and other accusations.

Saito campaigned for re-election by emphasizing that he had scored achievements in administrative and financial reforms as prefectural governor. He also pledged to maintain his policy of investing in younger generations and tackling rising prices.

Saito also courted support through social media. He said after the election that he had not been much of a social media figure, but this time he greatly felt that support for him proliferated through the platforms.

Saito said he would seriously accept advice and criticism and also work to rebuild relations with the staff and assembly of the prefecture to bring its politics forward.

Voter turnout was 55.65 percent, up 14.55 percentage points from the previous Hyogo gubernatorial election in 2021.