Shinzo Abe was shot on Friday, on Friday, during an electoral meeting where he supported the liberal democratic party in power, given favorite by the surveys.
Le Monde
Japanese voters began to vote on Sunday, July 10, to renew half of the upper room of the Parliament. But this ballot opens in a particularly heavy context after the assassination, two days earlier, of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during an electoral meeting in Nara (west of the country).
The current Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose liberal democratic party (PLD, nationalist right) was widely given in the polls, denounced the “barbaric” attack on his former mentor, insisting on importance to “defend the free and fair elections, which are the foundation of democracy”. “We will never give in to violence,” he added.
Balle assassination of Mr. Abe, one of the most famous politicians in the archipelago, has deeply bruised and moved in Japan as abroad, and condolence messages have flocked around the world , including China and South Korea, with which Japan maintains often stormy relationships.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, currently traveling to Asia, will stop in Tokyo on Monday to present its condolences in person, the State Department announced. Mr. Abe’s office told the France-Presse (AFP) agency that a funeral vigil would be held on Monday evening, and the funeral on Tuesday, in the presence of the family and relatives of Mr. Abe. They will take place at the Zozoji temple in Tokyo according to local media.
The campaign briefly suspended
The alleged perpetrator of the attack, arrested on the scene, admitted to having deliberately targeted Mr. Abe, explaining to the police wanting to an organization which he believed that he was affiliated. Some Japanese media mentioned a religious group. This 41 -year -old man named Tetsuya Yamagami would be a former member of the maritime self -defense force (the Japanese navy), and told the police to have used an artisanal weapon.
After being briefly suspended by the various parties to the news of the former Prime Minister’s attack, the electoral campaign resumed on Saturday with increased security measures, while Nara police recognized flaws ” undeniable “in those surrounded by Mr. Abe’s meeting.
It has been dominated by local concerns, in particular price increases and risks concerning electricity supply, while the heat wave that has touched Japan since the end of June raises fears of an electricity shortage.
The power coalition, formed by the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) of Mr. Kishida, 64, and his ally the Komeito, could, according to the projections, win more than 70 seats out of the 125 to be filled on Sunday (the Senate Account a total of 248 seats, renewed by half every three years).
a record proportion of women
Failing to have been able to present an attractive alternative, the Center-Gauche Constitutional Democratic Party risks, according to the polls, to lose part of the 45 seats it currently holds, and its main place of ‘Opposition.
In a country often criticized for the lack of female representation in its institutions and the management of its companies, a record proportion of 33 % of women appear among the 545 candidates.
A large victory for the senatorials would consolidate the power of Fumio Kishida, who has made the champion of a more redistributive economic policy called “new capitalism”, before a period of three years without planned elections. Its close cooperation with the Western allies of Japan to put pressure on Russia has also been praised in the archipelago, and its project to “considerably” increase the defense budget is also popular, while China continues to assert its territorial ambitions in Asia-Pacific.