The assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe leaves a void in Japanese politics.

As leader of the largest conservative faction in the ranks of the ruling Liberal Democrats (LDP), Abe was the mouthpiece of the national conservatives.

At the same time, he was the driving force behind the security and economic policies of the largest governing party.

Patrick Welter

Correspondent for business and politics in Japan based in Tokyo.

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Analysts in Tokyo say that the current prime minister, Fumio Kishida, could unintentionally benefit from the loss of the dominant politician.

"Kishida's role becomes easier because he can draw on Abe's memory," says Jeffrey Kingston of Temple University in Tokyo.

Koichi Nakano from Sophia University expects trench warfare in the right-wing conservative wing of the LDP over Abe's successor.

If Kishida takes advantage of this, he can strengthen his position, says Nakano.

Apparently no higher turnout

The upper house election on Sunday, two days after Abe's murder, was only a partial indicator of this.

After the first counts and election day polls, the governing coalition achieved the election goal of a clear majority in the upper house.

But that had been expected even before the assassination.

Turnout figures did not indicate that Friday's events motivated significantly more voters to vote.

According to this, the turnout half an hour before the polling stations closed was 49.2 percent.

Election day polls pointed to losses for the main opposition party, the Constitutional Democrats.

The right-wing conservative opposition party from Osaka, Nippon Ishin or the Japanese Innovation Party, on the other hand, could hope for more seats in the upper house.

A two-thirds majority from the Liberal Democrat-Komeito coalition, Nippon Ishin and a small opposition party seemed within reach, opening the way for an amendment to the pacifist constitution.

Among other things, the Liberal Democrats want to enshrine the existence of the self-defence forces in the constitution.

That had been one of Abe's political hearts.

But how much value Kishida attaches to changing the constitution is unclear.

On election night, he spoke of the need to deepen the debate.

Meanwhile in Japan, a debate about the lack of personal protection for politicians has started after the murder of Abe revealed blatant mistakes by the police.

"There is no denying that there were security issues," said Tomoaki Onizuka, chief of police in western Japan's Nara Prefecture.

As a former prime minister, Abe was protected around the clock by a specially trained bodyguard.

But a single bodyguard cannot see all directions at the same time, criticized an expert on public television NHK.

The local police were also involved in personal protection on site in Nara.

Video footage of the assassination shows that the assassin was able to approach Abe from behind undisturbed.

The politician spoke on a traffic island delimited by crash barriers in front of the entrance to a train station.

With calm steps, the assassin approached the politician to within a few meters from behind.

He drew the gun and fired twice before being overpowered by security forces.

Footage shows that Abe turned to face the assassin after the first shot.

The second shot came about three seconds after the first.