Japanese go to the polls shocked by Abe’s murder

Still shaken by the assassination of the former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, happened last Friday, the Japanese have begun to vote this Sunday in the legislative elections to the Chamber of Councilorsthe upper house of the Japanese parliament.

The approximately 46,000 voting points that are distributed throughout the Japanese archipelago opened at 07:00 local time (22:00 on Saturday in Spain), and will close 13 hours laterwhen the first exit polls will begin to be known.

in these elections 125 of the 248 seats are up for grabs of the upper house, one of the two that make up the japan diet and in which the legislative initiatives or the appointments of prime ministers previously approved by the lower house, which has more political power, are ratified. In Japan, the legislature lasts six yearsbut 50% of the seats are renewed every three.

Confidence of the Japanese

The result of these triennial partial elections will not bring about major political changes in the Asian country, but it will allow to test the confidence of the Japanese in the government of the prime minister, Fumio Kishida, appointed nine months ago.

The governor Liberal Democratic Party (PLD)to which Abe belonged, hopes to revalidate his vast majority at a time marked by the acceleration of the inflation and for the challenges of security growing externalities facing the archipelago.

The PLD currently has 110 seats in the upper house, joined by 28 from its coalition partner, the Buddhist Party Komeito. In order for the ruling alliance to maintain its broad parliamentary dominance, they must obtain at least 56 seats in the elections this Sunday.

troubled times

Everything seems to indicate that these plans will be fulfilled. According to polls released this week, both the PLD As the Komeitonot only will they maintain their current ratio, but the Prime Minister’s party could move up several seatswhich would cement the president’s control over training in the midst of economic times extremely convulsive.

The fragmented Japanese opposition, represented mainly by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People, it can, however, maintain a certain strength in the upper house. For its part, the emerging conservative party Initiatives from Japan could take advantage of the growing popularity achieved in the last elections.

The PLD is the main promoter of the modification of the pacifist article of the Japanese Magna Carta which aspires to provide the country with more military skills, something they consider necessary in the face of military developments in North Korea, China or Russia.

Commotion in the Asian country

Precisely, this was one of Abe’s great political priorities. former prime minister ruled Japan between late 2012 and September 2020, the longest term in the history of this country, and still had enormous influence in his party. His death, after being shot on Friday at a campaign rally, has caused a deep shock in the Asian country.

After the attack, all parties defended in unison the holding of elections despite the trauma that Abe’s murder has represented. Yes, between reinforced security measures and with the aim of defending the citizens’ right to vote “Elections are the pillar of democracy and democracy must be defended”, declared Kishida on Friday.

“We cannot surrender to violence and for this reason we will continue fighting in the electoral campaign until the end. I hope the people of Japan will think about it and work hard to protect our democracy,” the prime minister added.

murder weapon

The police continue to investigate the motivations of the alleged assassin, identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, a 41-year-old former military man. The author of the shots has recognized that there was “made various weapons” homemade, and had also tried to make a bomb, with the aim of creating a firearm “to be as lethal as possible”according to police sources to which the newspaper ‘Kyodo News’ has had access.

Agents searched Yamagami’s home in the western city of Nara and seized weapons similar to the one found at the scene of the attack, which was made from two tubes wrapped with tape.

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As for the motives for the attack, Yamagami stated that held a personal grudge to a religious organization that he suspected links to Abe. According to his statement, his mother would have given significant sums of money to the Christian religious group Unification Church, to the point of going bankrupt, according to the newspaper ‘Gendai Business’.

“I was going for a member of a religious group, but I thought it would be very difficult, so I went for former Prime Minister Abe,” he said. yamagami. “My mother was a Unification Church believer and Shinzo Abe was a Unification Church believer,” she alleged.