Photo/Illutration Kei Sato visits a special stand on July 11 near the site where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead in Nara on July 8. (Takuya Tanabe)

NARA--After winning re-election to the Upper House, celebrating victory was not on the agenda for local Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Kei Sato.

On the morning of July 11, Sato, 43, visited a flower memorial for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set up near the site where he was fatally shot, to offer his prayers.

Sato had stood right beside Abe, who was delivering a speech to his campaign supporters, just before the fatal shooting occurred.

Wearing a black suit and tie, Sato solemnly stood before the stand of flowers set up on the Kintetsu Line’s Yamato-Saidaiji Station and made a silent prayer for about 15 seconds.

“I again expressed my condolences to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and told him that I had won the election,” he said.

“It’s unacceptable to settle matters through violence,” Sato said in reflection. “I will not give into such an act. This was all in my mind.”

As for his upcoming second term, he said, “I’d like to work while following in the footsteps of former Prime Minister Abe, who was passionate and made efforts to realize his political beliefs and policies.”

He defeated candidates from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) in a single-seat Nara prefectural constituency.

Sato appeared at his campaign office in Nara city after 8 p.m. on July 10. He was projected to win but there was no smile on his face. He chose his words carefully and only told reporters, “I managed to win.”

There was no loud victory celebration in the aftermath of Abe’s tragic death.

In the 2016 election when Sato won his first election, many supporters gathered at his office and cheered loudly.

This time, only reporters and lawmakers who supported him were allowed to visit there. He did not even receive any of the usual flower bouquets gifted to winning candidates.

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