What Abe’s Assassination Means for Japan’s Ruling Party and Its Policy Agenda

The power vacuum left by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination could see a cycling in and out of new leaders in his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). But Abe’s absence is ultimately unlikely to affect the party’s major policy agenda and could, in fact, help the LDP pass more legislation by improving its prospects in upcoming parliamentary elections. On July 8, while giving a speech at a rally at a train station in Nara, Japan, Abe was shot and killed by an attendee. Abe was speaking to give support for LDP candidates ahead of the July 10 Upper House elections. The assassin, who was quickly arrested, used a homemade gun and gave no motive for the killing aside from claiming to dislike Abe. Abe stepped down as prime minister in 2020, citing longstanding health issues. But he had remained an influential power broker in the LDP in the...