Former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, was the longest-serving PM in Japanese history. He was a staunch conservative whom political critics had described as a right-wing Japanese nationalist.
Abe, born in 1954, served as PM of Japan from 2006 to 2007 and later from 2012 to 2020. Abe was also the President of the Liberal Democratic Party twice.
Abe comes from a politically affluent family. While his father was a foreign minister, his great-uncle was also Japan's Prime Minister. He was elected the House of Representatives in 1993 election.
He has held crucial posts Chief Cabinet Secretary in 2005 and in 2006 became the Prime Minister and became youngest post world-war Prime Minister. He however had to resign a year later owing to health issues.
Abe made an unexpected comeback in 2012 and led the LDP to landslide victories in 2014 and 2017 polls. He served as Prime Minister until 2020 when he announced his second resignation citing health reasons.
Shinzo Abe, who was known to be of conservative political ideology, was referred to as a 'good friend' by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He was shot on July 8, while addressing a crowd in Nara prefecture. He was supporting fellow LDP party member- Kei Sato for the House of Councillors election.
Numerous world leaders had expressed their condolences for Abe.
