Photo/Illutration Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivers a speech in front of the Kintetsu Line’s Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara on July 8. (Mami Ueda)

The bullets that killed Shinzo Abe struck at the very foundations of democracy. We denounce this heinous act with all our reserves of anger. At the same time, we express our heartfelt sorrow at the death of the former prime minister.

It is absolutely shocking that this active and influential politician was slain while on the stump, just two days prior to the Upper House election.

Elections are the most basic foundation of a democracy. Freedom of thought and faith, as well as that of speech and expression and the freedom to vote according to one's conscience, are paramount rights that must be strictly protected during elections.

Any attempt, regardless of what motivated it, to disrupt elections through violence and suppress freedom poses a perverse challenge to our postwar democracy and is totally unacceptable. We need to confront the danger and the gravity of this unspeakable crime.

Politicians are elected by voters to act as “representative of all the people.” Lawmakers judged by voters as not being fit for the job lose their seats in the electoral process. Abe was the longest-serving prime minister in postwar Japan. His political legacy will inevitably be subject to a rigorous evaluation in the future. All politicians are, so to speak, “defendants in the court of history,” as former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone (1918-2019) once put it.

Even so, there is absolutely no justification for a politician to pay for his performance with his life.

In a particular turbulent period of prewar history, Japan was plagued by a spate of acts of political terrorism. This included the 1932 assassination of Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai (1855-1932) in the May 15 Incident, and the 1936 attempted coup by young Imperial Japanese Army officers in the February 26 Incident. It is sobering to recall how these terrorist attacks eventually led to the nation’s devastating defeat in the Pacific War, which claimed a huge number of lives both at home and overseas.

Terror attacks against politicians and organs of public opinion in Japan also occurred after World War II. Every time an attack took place, the Japanese people shared their anger and indignation at such despicable acts but still managed to protect their freedoms without yielding to or flinching at the threat. This precious commitment to freedom must be passed to future generations.

First and foremost, we call on the law enforcement authorities to clarify the background to the slaying. Despite the shocking development, we urge voters to go to polls on July 10.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, democracy has gone off the rails in various parts of the world. The mob attacks on the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, appeared to the most high-profile symbol of this disturbing trend. But the assassination of the former prime minister on July 8 underscored the depth of the crisis of Japanese democracy.

This is a time for each and every one of us to make a renewed commitment to rebuilding democracy in this nation and vow to never allow it to slip through our fingers.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 9

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