Shinzo Abe: Japanese voters back party of former PM amid shooting fallout

Exit polls showed that the Liberal Democratic party (LDP), which Abe led until he resigned in 2020, had secured more than half the 125 seats being contested in the 248-seat upper house.

The LDP and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, were projected to win more than 63 seats, according to a Kyodo news agency exit poll. The public broadcaster NHK said the parties would win between 69 and 83 seats.

The run-up to the election had been dominated by rising prices, energy shortages and security threats, including LDP plans to double defence spending to at least 2% of GDP in the face of a nuclear-armed North Korea and more assertive China.

Two days after Abe was gunned down in front of a railway station while addressing a small crowd, there was incredulity over how Yamagami, a 41-year-old resident of Nara, had managed to move freely behind Abe and fire two shots from close range before being wrestled to the ground by security officials.

On Saturday, the head of the Nara prefectural police force admitted security arrangements had been flawed and promised a thorough investigation into the lapse.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will visit Japan on Monday to offer his condolences, the state department said.