LDP head Takaichi set to be elected 1st female Japan PM with JIP support
Sanae Takaichi, president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is set to be elected Japan's first female prime minister on Tuesday, backed by its new coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, amid a political flux caused by growing multiparty dynamics, Kyodo reports.
While the alliance of the LDP and the JIP is just short of a majority in the powerful House of Representatives, Takaichi's selection as Shigeru Ishiba's successor is virtually assured as opposition forces have failed to field a joint candidate.
Takaichi 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 revitalization, Takaichi is apparently aiming to project a sense of renewal for the LDP-led government through the broad inclusion of women in key positions.
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 Dec. 17, Ishiba's Cabinet launched in October 2024, which was weakened by its failure to retain majorities in elections for both chambers, resigned en masse.
The vote for prime minister comes weeks 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.
The LDP and the JIP, headed by Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura, agreed Monday 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.
Later Tuesday, Takaichi will form a Cabinet and is expected to give the foreign and defense minister posts to two of her four rivals in the LDP leadership race, Toshimitsu Motegi and Shinjiro Koizumi, according to sources close to the matter.
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.
Hitoshi Kikawada, a former senior vice minister for the Cabinet Office and a close aide to Takaichi, and Jiro Akama, a former senior vice minister for the internal affairs ministry, are also seen as potential Cabinet members under her, the sources said.
