Abe, Japan’s longest serving modern leader, was gunned down while making a campaign speech in the city of Nara on Friday morning by an unemployed 41-year-old man, in an act decried by the political establishment as an attack on democracy itself.
“A wave of sympathy votes now could boost the margin of victory,” James Brady, vice president at advisory firm Teneo, wrote in a note. Abe’s death has raised questions about the security measures for public figures in Japan, where politicians commonly make direct appeals to voters outside train stations and supermarkets during campaigning season.