The Prime Minister of Japan affirms that Abe is "very serious" and calls the attack a "barbaric act"

MADRID, 8 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, stated this Friday that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is "very serious" after being shot during the day during a campaign rally in the town of Nara and has called what happened an "act barbaric" which he condemns "in the strongest terms".

"I sincerely hope that the former prime minister survives," Kishida said in an appearance before the press, before stressing that the act "cannot be forgiven." "The government wants to take all possible measures to anticipate and respond to any such situation in the future," he added.

Likewise, he has pointed out that "for now the criminal's past is not fully known" and has said that this will be revealed during the police investigation. "The current question is whether the social climate has changed, but I don't want to touch on that until everything about this incident has been confirmed," she said.

In this sense, he has not ruled out that the event is related to the electoral campaign underway, as reported by the Japanese newspaper 'Yomiuri Shimbun'. "It is a barbaric act that has taken place during elections, which are the pillar of democracy," he pointed out, without commenting on a possible change in the electoral calendar.

According to Japanese media, Abe has gone into cardiorespiratory arrest after being shot in the back during an act in Nara. The suspect, who has been arrested, is a 41-year-old man who has opened fire twice with a shotgun, hitting at least one of the bullets in the back of the former Japanese prime minister.

Abe was participating in a Liberal Democratic Party campaign rally for the July 10 parliamentary elections at Kintetsu Yamato-Saidaiji station. Several hundred people had attended the event who later witnessed the event.