Police chief wants key election personalities fully protected

Japan’s police chief has called on officers around the country to do all they can to protect important figures in the upcoming general election.
National Police Agency Commissioner General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki made the request at a Thursday meeting of top prefectural police officers at the agency in Tokyo ahead of the Oct. 27 election for the Lower House.
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was gunned down during an Upper House election campaign speech in July 2022. In April 2023, an explosive was thrown toward then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the campaign trail for a Lower House by-election.
Tsuyuki demanded that all the prefectural police department heads be “determined to execute every single measure to prevent similar incidents from happening again.”
He also called on them to make risk assessments with fresh eyes and flexibly deploy officers to thoroughly protect key figures until the election is over.
On Wednesday, the NPA set up a task force to address election law violations.
Tsuyuki instructed its members to crack down on violations in a fair manner and appropriately deal with stump speech disruptors.