TOKYO, Jul 9, 2022 (AFP) – The Japanese began voting this Sunday morning (Saturday night, 9 in Brazil) in the elections for the Upper House of Parliament, which took place just two days after the murder of the former prime minister. Minister Shinzo Abe during a campaign rally.
The vote is expected to increase the legislative majority of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, to which Abe belongs.
The elections are held in the shadow of the assassination, but Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other politicians insisted that the shocking event would not stop the electoral process.
“We must never allow violence to stifle expression during elections, which is the foundation of democracy,” he said while campaigning nationwide on Saturday.
In addition, Kishida took the time to offer his condolences at the Abe family’s Tokyo residence, where the former prime minister’s body arrived on Saturday afternoon after leaving a hospital in western Japan.
Friday’s murder shocked both the country and the international community, prompting condolences and condemnation, even from countries with which the belligerent Abe sometimes had difficult relations, such as China and South Korea.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, who is named the perpetrator, is in custody and told investigators that he attacked Abe because he believed the politician was linked to an unnamed organization.
Local media described the organization as religious and claimed that Yamagami’s family was experiencing financial problems because of his mother’s donations to the group.
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source: Noticias
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