Politics & Government

LDP sources say Aug. 5 Diet eulogy for Abe likely to be postponed

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
A hearse carrying former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s coffin as it passes in front of the Diet building on July 12 in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:01 JST, July 29, 2022

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
The Liberal Democratic Party headquarters

The Liberal Democratic Party has decided not to give a memorial speech for late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe amid an extraordinary Diet session to be convened on Wednesday, according to several senior party members.

Former LDP Secretary General Akira Amari was originally scheduled to deliver the speech on Aug. 5 at a plenary session of the House of Representatives. The speaker for the speech was said to have been chosen based on the wishes of Abe’s bereaved family, but some members of the ruling and opposition parties said the speaker should be chosen from among former prime ministers.

Some opposition parties are opposed to the state funeral planned on Sept. 27, and a senior LDP official said the LDP deemed it “better to avoid a situation where opposition party members walk out or bombard a speaker with boos and jeers.”

The LDP is now set to consider holding a eulogy speech sometime after autumn, while it monitors preparations for a state funeral.