At an election campaign rally featuring the sobbing widow of a slain prominent politician, a gaffe in a speech prompted laughter at what had been a somber event.

The mistake was perhaps quite understandable. And it wasn’t the only verbal flub in Yamaguchi Prefecture, the longtime stronghold of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot and killed in July last year.

His widow, Akie, spoke to supporters at a by-election campaign kickoff rally on April 11 for Shinji Yoshida, 38, in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Yoshida, a former city assembly member backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is vying to take over the Lower House seat held for years by Abe.

“I want you to send (Yoshida) off to the stage of national politics with a resounding victory so that he will take over for my husband and do steady work,” Akie said, choking back tears.

At the rally, Akio Ito, chairman of Yoshida’s support group, introduced Yoshida as a “young and promising candidate.”

But toward the end of his speech, Ito said, “This candidate, Shinji Abe, … oops, sorry.”

The gaffe from Ito, who used to chair Abe’s support group, drew laughter and clapping from supporters in attendance.

Koichi Hagiuda, the LDP policy chief, joked about the misnomer in his speech at the rally.

Hagiuda said he is worried that voters will make the same mistake as Ito when they enter voting booths to fill in their ballots.

“People in Shimonoseki have only ever written ‘Abe’ on the ballot,” Hagiuda said. “Even the chair got the candidate’s name wrong.”

Hagiuda then spoke firmly: “Let’s hold such feelings in our hearts during the election and switch over to Shinji Yoshida, shall we? It is the first step for us to maintain the thinking of Abe-sensei.”

Yoshida himself seemed to acknowledge that the ghost of Abe was the star of his campaign.

He said he would take over “Abe-ism” and “will carry the soul of Abe-sensei, who is gone forever without fulfilling his life ambitions.”

KISHI OR ABE, OR BOTH?

The ghost of Abe has also haunted the No. 2 electoral district in the prefecture, where Nobuchiyo Kishi, 31, Abe’s nephew, is running in another Lower House by-election.

The seat became vacant when Kishi’s father, Nobuo Kishi, Abe’s younger brother, resigned, citing an illness.

LDP bigwigs attended Nobuchiyo Kishi’s election campaign kickoff rally on April 11.

Toshiaki Endo, 73, chairman of LDP General Council, recalled that he and Abe both entered the Lower House at the same time.

Endo described Abe as “my cohort” and said the two-time prime minister once grumbled that people were not giving him enough credit for his hard work because he “is a grandson of (former Prime Minister Nobusuke) Kishi.”

After going on and on about Abe, Endo told the crowd, “So I want you to help Nobuchiyo Abe …”

Endo quickly corrected himself. “I’m sorry. I have a tendency to say ‘Abe.’ I want you to help Nobuchiyo Kishi realize his goal.”

OPPOSITION CALLS FOR END OF NEPOTISM

Yoshida is running against four others in the No. 4 district.

Yoshifu Arita, 71, who is backed by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, has adopted the slogan: “Examine the politics of former Prime Minister Abe.”

Arita, a journalist and former Upper House member, was known for his reports about the Unification Church long before Abe was killed, apparently over his connection to the religious organization.

Kishi’s only competition in the No. 2 district is Hideo Hiraoka, 69, a former Lower House member.

At the campaign kickoff rally for Hiraoka, former Prime Minister Naoto Kan gave a speech and criticized Kishi’s nepotism.

“I, too, was born in Yamaguchi,” Kan said. “The mood here is that you have to be a second- or third-generation politician to enter politics.”

Hiraoka said the district faces many issues that “have exploited people in the area,” such as problems with a U.S. military base, plans to build a nuclear power plant, and nepotism.

ALL SMILES AT KISHI CAMP

But such digs do not appear to be hurting the Kishi camp.

Ryu Shionoya, acting chairman of the Abe faction in the LDP, said at the rally for Kishi, “There has never been such a prestigious family tree, descended from Prime Ministers (Eisaku) Sato, (Nobusuke) Kishi and (Shinzo) Abe.”

Shionoya encouraged Kishi to “be proud of it, value it and do your best.”

Hagiuda, a member of Abe faction, also hit back at the Hiraoka camp.

“Because (Kishi) doesn’t have many flaws, they are even criticizing his family lineage just to make noise.”

Kishi himself did not mention his family in his speech.

He said he will tackle the U.S. base noise issue, the declining population and other problems.

“I will make it through the finish line with full force and with a smile,” Kishi said.

(This article was compiled from reports by Natsuno Otahara, Michio Mizuta, Takero Yamazaki, Takeshi Aose and Masahiro Kakihana.)