Japan PM attack suspect may have had grudge about electoral system --- Kyodo News

WAKAYAMA, Japan — The suspect in an explosives attack on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the weekend may have had a grudge over the country's electoral system after failing to qualify as a candidate for the upper house election last year, court documents showed Tuesday. Ryuji Kimura, 24, has maintained his silence after he was arrested on the spot for throwing an explosive device at Kishida just before the prime minister was about to make a stump speech on Saturday in the city of Wakayama, western Japan. Kishida was not injured. According to the records, a man of the same name and address as Kimura filed a lawsuit to the Kobe District Court in June last year, seeking 100,000 yen ($740) in damages for mental distress after he was unable to launch his candidacy for a House of Councillors election held the following month. He claimed he was unable to meet the requirements of being at least 30 years old and paying a 3 million yen deposit to run in the upper house election, which he argued violated the Constitution that guarantees equality under the law. But the district court in November dismissed the case, which had been self-represented, on the grounds that both the age restriction and deposit were reasonable prerequisites. He appealed to the Osaka High Court, with a ruling slated to be handed down in May this year. Meanwhile, Kimura's family was quoted by investigative sources as saying he "was at home until around midnight on the day of the attack, but was gone by morning." According to the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters, the party released Kishida's schedule for Saturday on its website the evening before, and an LDP election candidate also posted the prime minister's speech plans on social media. At around 11:25 a.m. on Saturday, Kimura threw an explosive toward Kishida from within a crowd. He was only about 10 meters away from the prime minister, with the device -- believed to be a homemade pipe bomb -- landing about one meter from Kishida. The attack came less than a year after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot last July during a stump speech in the city of Nara before the House of Councillors election.

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