The Liberal Democratic Party (PLD, nationalist right) is widely favored in the polls.
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Still stunned, the Japanese go to the polls. Voters began voting on Sunday July 10 to renew half of the Upper House of Parliament, an election largely eclipsed by the assassination two days earlier of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during an electoral rally in Nara (west from the country).
Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose Liberal Democratic Party (PLD, right-wing nationalist) is widely favored in the polls, denounced the attack “barbaric” against his former mentor, insisting on the importance of “to defend free and fair elections, which are the foundation of democracy”.
“We will never give in to violence”
Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister
A large victory in the senatorial elections would consolidate the power of the Prime Minister, who has championed a more redistributive economic policy called “new capitalism”, ahead of a three-year period without scheduled elections. His close cooperation with Japan’s Western allies in putting pressure on Russia has also been praised in the Archipelago, and his plan to increase “considerably” the defense budget is also popular, as China continues to assert its territorial ambitions in the Asia-Pacific.
The shooting assassination of Shinzo Abe, one of the Archipelago’s best-known politicians, deeply hurt and moved Japan and abroad. Messages of condolence have poured in from around the world, including from China and South Korea, with which Japan has an often rocky relationship.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, currently traveling in Asia, will also stop in Tokyo on Monday to offer his condolences in person. Shinzo Abe’s office said a wake would be held on Monday evening, and the funeral on Tuesday, with the former prime minister’s family and friends in attendance.