Hyogo Gov. Denies Paying for Social Media Campaign in Election

Tokyo, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)--Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito on Monday denied paying a company to run his social media campaign in the Nov. 17 gubernatorial election in the western Japan prefecture.

He made the statement in response to an online article published by the head of the public relations company in Hyogo saying that the company was in charge of coming up with his social media strategy and managing his social media accounts during the closely watched race.

If Saito paid election campaign fees to the company for its services, it may constitute vote-buying under the public offices election law.

"I've not violated the public offices election law," Saito said.

He said he had asked the company mainly to design an election poster for him and paid around 700,000 yen in total.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]