JapanThe conservative coalition government increased its majority in the upper house of parliament in Sunday’s election, two days after the assassination of a prominent politician and power broker. Shinzo Abe,
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving modern leader, was shot dead on Friday during a campaign speech in the western city. Slogan In a murder that stunned a country where political violence and gun crimes are rare.
Prime Minister fumio kishida According to exit polls by public broadcaster NHK, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), of which Abe remains an influential legislator, and his junior partner Komito won 76 of the 125 seats contested in the chamber, up from 69 previously.
The LDP won 63 of the 55 seats to win the majority of the contested seats, but not enough to secure a single majority overall.
Elections to the less powerful upper house of parliament are usually a referendum on the incumbent government. A change of government was not at stake, as it is determined by the lower house.
But the strong performance could help Kishida consolidate his reign as he helps Japan recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, keep a lid on rising consumer prices and bolster defense at a time of tension with its powerful neighbor China. could.
The final results are to come on Monday afternoon.
“It is important that we were able to pull this election together at a time when violence was shaking the very foundations of the election,” said Kishida, Abe protégé after the exit polls.
“Right now, as we face issues including the coronavirus, Ukraine and inflation, solidarity within the government and coalition parties is critical,” he said.
The party observed a moment of silence for Abe at its Tokyo headquarters as members awaited the results.
The advantage could allow Kishida to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution, a dream Abe never achieved.
Parties open to amending the constitution maintained their two-thirds majority in the upper house.
Robert Ward of the International Institute of Strategic Studies said Kishida may proceed cautiously on constitutional change, but a clear victory is set to pave the way for more defense spending, a key LDP election promise.
Kishida “now has a green light for this,” Ward said.
Asked about the constitutional amendment on Sunday evening, Kishida said he would focus on bringing a bill for discussion in Parliament.
People close to Kishida have said his team also wants to gradually phase out “abenomics”, Japan’s signature economic policy of government spending and monetary stimulus named after the ex-prime minister who began the experiment nearly a decade ago.
Analysts said Kishida may now have the political capital to change course, and is likely to have three years to drive the legislation through before another election takes place.
Koya Miyama, senior economist at SMBC Nikko Securities, said, “Kishida may have more leeway in pursuing policies based on his views, although legislators close to Abe may rally and be more vocal to maintain Abenomics.” You can call from
Shigenobu Tamura, a political analyst and former LDP employee, said Abe’s killing may have strengthened support for the ruling party in “hot-fighting districts”.
Other analysts said the exit polls were broadly in line with pre-poll polls. The Kyodo news agency estimated that turnout was expected to rise to 51.58% from 48.8% in the last upper house election three years ago.
The Japan Innovation Party, a conservative opposition party, won 12 seats, increasing its total share in the upper house to 21 seats.
Abe was stumping for LDP candidate Kei Sato in Nara when he was shot at close range by a man with a house gun.
Sato said after exit polls predicted that the former prime minister was “shot in an act of terrorism in the middle of our election campaign,” he would win his seat. “We continue our campaign in the belief that we should not succumb to terrorism or fear it – we must overcome it.”
Nara police said on Sunday they had seized a motorcycle and a vehicle belonging to suspect Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, who was arrested from the scene.
Police said they recovered trays wrapped in aluminum foil from the vehicle, which they said the suspect told them he had used to dry gunpowder, and wooden boards with holes that he said were made of wood. His crude weapon was used for test-firing and metal.
According to Japanese media, the suspect told police he spent months planning the attack, accusing the former prime minister of having ties to a religious group. read full story
Police said the suspect told them that he arrived at a station near the scene more than an hour before the attack and spent time visiting the shopping complex.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies in Tokyo and Satoshi Sugiyama in Nara, Kevin Buckland, Yoshifumi Takemoto Kiyoshi Takenaka, Additional reporting by Kantar Komiya and Mariko Katsumura in Tokyo, and Tim Kelly in Nara writing by John Geddy Editing by William Mallard, Frances Carey and Sam Holmes )