Japan is all set to have the country’s maiden woman Prime Minister. The Liberal Democratic Party(LDF) of Japan has chosen Sanae Takaichi as the leader of the party, thus paving way for her to be the first-ever female Prime Minister of the country. The election was held at the LDF party headquarters in Tokyo on October 4, and the right-wing politician Sanae Takaichi defeated her competitor Shinjiro Koizumi with a moderate margin.
The LDF party held elections for the position of the party leader and for the post of the Prime Minister as the former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigned from the office in September. He was elected to power in 2024, however demitted from office amid spiking political pressure and angst from the people over cost of living crisis and other volatilities.
During the ballot, Takaichi won the first round of voting securing 183 out of 589 votes. Meanwhile, Shinjiro Koizumi won 164 votes and stood at second place. Apparently, three other candidates were knocked out. Post the second and decisive round of voting, Takaichi emerged victorious. In the elections, the vote of the MPs was given more weightage than the rank-and-file party members.
Sanae Takaichi, born in 1961 was elected for the House of Representatives for the first time in 1993 from the LDF party. She has held several ministerial posts in the Japan government such as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communication from 2019 to 2020, Minister of State for Economic Security from 2022 to 2024. She is the close ally of former PM Shinzo Abe and is considered as a conservative leader.
Takaichi assumes power at a very critical domestic scenario and a volatile geopolitical juncture. Domestically, the LDF party has not won a full majority in the recently conducted elections for the upper house and lower house of the Japan Parliament. The coalition of parties through which LDF has formed the government suffers from internal conflicts and dwindling political affiliations. Thus, Takaichi has a herculean task of holding together the coalition and ensure majority in the Parliament.
Meanwhile, the people of Japan are severely anger on the LDF government over cost-of-living crisis, spiking inflation and other infamous scandals. In this direction, Takaichi in the run up to the elections reiterated, “Recently, I have heard harsh voices from across the country saying we don’t know what the LDP stands for anymore. That sense of urgency drove me. I wanted to turn people’s anxieties about their daily lives and the future into hope”. Takaichi vowed to work for a “prosperous and strong” Japan.
The MPs of Japan are said to vote in the middle of the month in Parliament to approve Sanae Takaichi as the Prime Minister of the country and she has multiple challenges from uniting the party, holding the coalition, work for the strong resurgence of the LDF party in the upcoming elections, addressing the aspirations of people and ultimately navigating all the geopolitical challenges emanating from US, China etc.
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