Takaichi Paves Way For Japan's 1st Female PM By Becoming Ruling LDP Head

TOKYO, Oct 4 (Bernama-Kyodo)  --  Former internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi secured her path to becoming Japan's first female prime minister on Saturday by winning the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election in a runoff, with political confusion mounting under a minority government, Kyodo News Agency reported.

Replacing outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Takaichi, 64, is also the first woman to assume the ruling party's top post, and her hawkish stance on diplomacy and security is expected to spark fresh friction with Asian neighbours such as China and South Korea.

Takaichi won 185 votes in the runoff against farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi's 156. Among the five candidates in the first round, the two LDP lawmakers along with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi were widely seen as the leading contenders.

The leadership race took place amid growing political uncertainty after the coalition with its junior partner, the Komeito party, lost its majority in both houses of parliament, the first such situation since the LDP was founded in 1955.

"The LDP marks a new era," Takaichi, known as a staunch conservative lawmaker, told her fellow lawmakers after being elected. She pledged that the party, which has held power almost continuously for 70 years, will turn people's "anxieties into hope."

Takaichi shares the views of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who maintained a nationalist stance. Her periodic visits to the controversial war-linked Yasukuni shrine, which honours convicted war criminals along with Japan's war dead, have drawn sharp criticism from Beijing and Seoul.

At her first press conference as LDP head, just hours after the leadership vote, Takaichi stopped short of pledging to continue visiting Yasukuni, saying she would decide "appropriately," in an apparent consideration of China and South Korea.

Meanwhile, she added that worship at the shrine in Tokyo "should never be made a diplomatic issue."

As for the coalition framework, Takaichi said policy agreements are necessary to form a government with a new party, while calling for cooperation from opposition forces to swiftly map out effective measures to tackle inflation, hurting people's lives.

Asked about a potential LDP leadership lineup, Takaichi indicated she will appoint the four other contenders in the presidential election as key ministers or party officials.

In the past two national elections, the LDP's reputation was significantly damaged by a high-profile slush funds scandal, which led to the dissolution of major party factions, including one formerly led by Abe.

Takaichi said she believes there is no problem in appointing LDP lawmakers who were involved in the scandal to Cabinet or party posts.

Her term will last two years until September 2027, completing the remainder of Ishiba's original three-year tenure after he stepped down.

She is likely to be chosen as the next prime minister at an extraordinary parliament session, expected around Oct 15, as the minority coalition remains the largest force and opposition parties remain divided.

Takaichi, a former TV personality seen as a fiscal dove by market participants unlike Ishiba, has expressed willingness to boost the issuance of deficit-covering government bonds to fund measures aimed at economic growth.

She has also voiced eagerness to tighten screening of foreign investment to safeguard economic security, and to introduce stricter rules on visa overstaying and land acquisition by nonresident foreigners.

Policy toward foreigners drew public attention in the July 20 House of Councillors election, which saw gains by a small populist opposition party promoting a "Japanese First" slogan.

Takaichi faces personal challenges. She takes care of her husband, who suffered a stroke that left him paralysed on his right side, and has spoken of her own health struggles, saying she failed to recognise menopause symptoms and left them untreated, which led to rheumatoid arthritis and eventually required an artificial joint.

-- BERNAMA-KYODO