TOKYO, Oct 21 — The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) president Sanae Takaichi was elected Prime Minister today in the House of Representatives, becoming Japan's first female leader.
Her ascension is backed by the LDP's new coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), amid political flux caused by growing multiparty dynamics, Kyodo News Agency reported.
While the alliance of the LDP and the JIP holds just short of a majority in the lower house, Takaichi's selection as Shigeru Ishiba's successor was virtually assured as opposition forces failed to field a joint candidate.
She has been stepping up arrangements for her Cabinet, with a source close to her saying she may select LDP lawmaker Satsuki Katayama for finance minister, as they are both fiscal doves.
By appointing Katayama, a former senior Finance Ministry bureaucrat and former minister for regional revitalisation, Takaichi is apparently aiming to project a sense of renewal for the LDP-led government through the broad inclusion of women in key positions.
Takaichi has also decided to pick female LDP lawmaker Kimi Onoda as Economic Security Minister and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator with the United States, as Trade Minister to ensure continuity in bilateral talks.
The source added that Takaichi has been willing to offer major posts to her four rivals in October's LDP leadership election, signalling her intention to project party unity through the new Cabinet.
With around four independent Lower House lawmakers considering voting for Takaichi, the 64-year-old conservative could clinch victory in the first round, in which a candidate must win more than half of the ballots to avoid a runoff.
The LDP and the JIP, also known as Nippon Ishin, lack a majority in the House of Councillors as well, which will force Takaichi, a security hawk and fiscal dove, to walk a tightrope as she seeks cooperation from other Opposition parties to pass bills.
Before the Parliamentary vote on the first day of a 58-day extraordinary session through December 17, Ishiba's Cabinet, launched in October 2024 but weakened by its failure to retain majorities in elections for both chambers, resigned en masse.
The vote for prime minister comes after Takaichi, a former internal affairs minister, won the Oct. 4 LDP leadership race, which was followed by the departure of its junior partner, the centrist Komeito party, ending their 26-year coalition and leading her party to look for a new ally.
Yesterday, the LDP and the JIP, headed by Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura, agreed to form a coalition, pledging to unite behind Takaichi in the prime ministerial vote. The JIP is unlikely to occupy any Cabinet posts and will instead play an advisory role to the Prime Minister.
In selecting the prime minister, separate votes are held in each chamber of the Diet. If no candidate wins a majority in the first round, the top two contenders advance to a runoff and the one with greater support is chosen. The Lower House's choice takes precedence.
The source added that Takaichi has decided to give the post of Defence Minister to Shinjiro Koizumi, while Toshimitsu Motegi is expected to be picked as Foreign Minister. The two were among her rivals in the LDP leadership race.
The two others are Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, who may be tapped as Internal Affairs and Communications Minister, and Takayuki Kobayashi, already appointed as the LDP's policy chief.
Former senior vice minister for the Cabinet Office and Takaichi's close aide Hitoshi Kikawada, as well as a former Internal Affairs Ministry senior vice minister Jiro Akama, are also seen as potential Cabinet members under her.
