Japan votes for key election in shadow of Shinzo Abe assassination

Tokyo, July 10

Japanese went to polls on Sunday in the shadow of the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, gunned down while making a campaign speech for the governing party that cruises to a likely major victory.

Amid voting on Sunday, police in western Japan sent the alleged assassin to a local prosecutors’ office.

The man had developed hatred towards a religious group that his mother was obsessed about and that bankrupted a family business, according to media reports, including some that identified the group as the Unification Church.

Abe’s body, in a black hearse accompanied by his wife, Akie, returned to his home in Tokyo’s upscale residential area of Shibuya, where many mourners, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, their predecessors and top party officials, paid tributes. His wake and funeral are expected in the coming days.

Nara prefectural police chief Tomoaki Onizuka on Saturday said that Abe’s assassination was his “greatest regret” in his 27-year career. He said problems with security were undeniable, that he took the shooting seriously and will review the guarding procedures.

Abe’s assassination ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary election shocked the nation and raised questions over whether adequate security was provided for the former prime minister.

Some observers who watched videos of the attack noted a lack of attention in the open space behind Abe as he spoke.

Mitsuru Fukuda, a crisis management professor at Nihon University, said police were seen focusing frontward and paying little attention to what was behind Abe, noting that the suspect was approaching the former leader unnoticed until he fired the first shot.

“Clearly there were problems,” Fukuda said.

The first shot narrowly missed Abe and hit an election vehicle. The second entered from his upper left arm damaged his neck artery, causing massive bleeding and death.

Fukuda said Abe’s assassination could prompt stricter security at crowded events like campaigns, sports games and others.

After Abe’s assassination, Sunday’s election had a new meaning, with all political leaders emphasising the importance of free speech and their pledge not to back down to violence against democracy.

“We absolutely refuse to let violence shut out free speech,” Kishida said in his final rally in northern city of Niigata on Saturday amid tightened security. “We must demonstrate that our democracy and election will not back down to violence.”

While media surveys have predicted a major victory for the governing Liberal Democratic Party amid fractured and weak opposition, a wave of sympathy votes from Abe’s assassination could bring a bigger victory than Kishida’s modest goal of winning the house majority.

“This could be a turning point” for the LDP over its divisive policies on gender equality, same-sex marriages and other issues that Abe-backed ultra-conservatives with paternalistic family values had resisted, said Fukuda.