Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday strongly condemned the attack on the country's former premier Shinzo Abe during an election campaign in Nara city.
Abe was unresponsive after being critically shot from about 10 feet behind while campaigning in the upper house election in the western city of Nara. He was airlifted to a hospital immediately and may have gone into cardiac arrest, reported local media quoting firefighters.
"I pray that former prime minister Abe will survive," Kishida said in a televised address.
"It is a barbaric act during election campaigning, which is the foundation of democracy, and it is absolutely unforgivable. I condemn this act in the strongest terms."
On the question of security (or lack of) surrounding Abe, Kishida said, "I want to believe there was sufficient security, but determining that will be part of investigations."