The 67-year-old politician was shot at Friday while addressing voters on behalf of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) about next Sunday’s Senate election. Abe, 67, collapsed and was bleeding from his neck, a source from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) told the news agency Jiji† According to a reporter for the Japanese broadcaster NHK, two shots were heard and Abe was hit in the chest.
According to the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun a 41-year-old resident of Nara has been arrested. He has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He allegedly fired at Abe from close range. A weapon has since been found.
Abe was Prime Minister of Japan from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020. At the end of August 2020, he announced his resignation due to health problems. He was Japan’s longest-serving post-war prime minister at the time.
At the press conference at which he announced his resignation, Abe said that he was no longer able to do his job optimally due to intestinal complaints. He has been suffering from chronic intestinal inflammation for years. Not long before his resignation, he had been hospitalized for the second time in a short time for examination.
Youngest post-war prime minister
In 2006, aged 52, Abe became Japan’s youngest prime minister since World War II. A year later, he unexpectedly resigned, partly because his popularity figures had plummeted. Later, Abe said his health problems had played a role.
Four years later, he made a glorious comeback by regaining the party leadership. After that, he did not lose a single election, partly because he made clever use of the right to call by-elections. When his popularity ratings were high, or when the left-wing opposition was once again hopelessly divided, Abe felt free to call Japanese voters to the polls for a fresh mandate. He won the elections in 2018 with force majeure.