Japan will proceed with scheduled elections Sunday for the parliament’s upper house despite the stunning assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, government officials said.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has ordered stepped-up security in the wake of the attack, but he told election officials to proceed with the vote.
Japan’s major parties canceled some events Friday and Mr. Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) called off planned canvassing by party leaders in the aftermath of the shooting. Cabinet members who were out on the campaign trail were summoned by Mr. Kishida back to Tokyo.
But LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi told the Japan Times that weekend campaigning would resume and Sunday’s vote would be held as planned “to show that [we] will not succumb to violence.