Tokyo, Oct 11 : The chief of Japan's National Police Agency (NPA) has called on officers across the country to thoroughly protect important figures in the upcoming General Election, local media reported.

NPA Commissioner General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki made the request at a meeting of top prefectural police officers at the agency in Tokyo, Xinhua news agency reported quoting Jiji Press.

The election for the House of Representatives, the lower parliamentary chamber, will be held on October 27.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was gunned down during a July 2022 House of Councillors election campaign speech, and an explosive was thrown toward Fumio Kishida while the then-prime minister was on the April 2023 Lower House by-election campaign trail.

Tsuyuki urged all the prefectural police department heads to be "determined to execute every single measure to prevent similar incidents from happening again," the report said.

/IANS