that doesn't mean much given that the LDP wins virtually every election, Japan is functionally a one party state. The author is (correctly) more concerned with

that doesn't mean much given that the LDP wins virtually every election, Japan is functionally a one party state. The author is (correctly) more concerned with what the assassination means for the ultra-nationalists within the LDP and here even your provided AP article quotes agreeingly: "This could be a turning point” for the LDP over its divisive policies on gender equality, same-sex marriages and other issues that Abe-backed ultra-conservatives with paternalistic family values had resisted, said Mitsuru Fukuda, a crisis management professor at Nihon University." Abe was a singularly important figure for the hardline wing of the party and his death is not going to benefit them internally. The most important aspect of that Unification Church story is the association with South Korea, it's hard to imagine anything more embarrassing for Japanese nationalists than be associated with a South Korean cult.