Japan\u2019s ruling party picked hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi as its head on Saturday, putting her on course to become the country\u2019s first female prime minister in a move set to jolt investors and neighbours. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has ruled Japan for almost all of the postwar era, elected Takaichi, 64, to regain trust from a public angered by rising prices and drawn to opposition groups promising stimulus and clampdowns on migrants. A vote in parliament to choose a replacement for outgoing Shigeru Ishiba is expected on October 15. Takaichi is favoured as the ruling coalition has the largest number of seats. Inherits party in crisis Takaichi, the only woman among the five LDP candidates, beat a challenge from the more moderate Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, who was bidding to become the youngest modern leader. A former economic security and internal affairs minister with an expansionary fiscal agenda for the world\u2019s fourth-largest economy, Takaichi takes over a party in crisis. Various other parties, including the expansionist Democratic Party for the People and the anti-immigration Sanseito, have been steadily luring voters, especially younger ones, away from the LDP. The LDP and its coalition partner lost their majorities in both houses under Ishiba over the past year, triggering his resignation. \u201cRecently, I have heard harsh voices from across the country saying we don\u2019t know what the LDP stands for anymore,\u201d Takaichi said in a speech before the second-round vote. \u201cThat sense of urgency drove me. I wanted to turn people\u2019s anxieties about their daily lives and the future into hope.\u201d Takaichi says her hero is Margaret Thatcher, Britain\u2019s first female prime minister, who offers a starker vision for change than Koizumi and is potentially more disruptive. An advocate of late premier Shinzo Abe\u2019s \u201cAbenomics\u201d strategy to boost the economy with aggressive spending and easy monetary policy, she has previously criticised the Bank of Japan\u2019s (BOJ) interest rate increases. Such a spending shift could confuse investors about one of the world\u2019s biggest debt loads. Naoya Hasegawa, chief bond strategist at Okasan Securities in Tokyo, said Takaichi\u2019s election had weakened the chances of the BOJ raising rates this month, which markets had priced at around a 60 per cent chance before the vote. Discussed redoing Trump trade deal Takaichi has also raised the possibility of redoing an investment deal with US President Donald Trump that lowered his punishing tariffs in return for Japanese taxpayer-backed investment. The US ambassador to Japan, George Glass, congratulated Takaichi, posting on X that he looked forward to strengthening the Japan-US partnership \u201con every front\u201d. But her nationalistic positions \u2014 such as her regular visits to the Yasukuni shrine to Japan\u2019s war dead, viewed by some Asian countries as a symbol of its past militarism \u2014 may rile neighbours like South Korea and China. South Korea will seek to \u201ccooperate to maintain the positive momentum in South Korea-Japan relations\u201d, President Lee Jae Myung\u2019s office said in a statement. Takaichi also favours revising Japan\u2019s pacifist postwar constitution and suggested this year that Japan could form a \u201cquasi-security alliance\u201d with Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te welcomed her election, saying she was a \u201csteadfast friend of Taiwan\u201d. \u201cIt is hoped that under the leadership of the new [LDP] President Takaichi, Taiwan and Japan can deepen their partnership in areas such as economic trade, security, and technological cooperation,\u201d he said in a statement. If elected prime minister, Takaichi said she would travel overseas more regularly than her predecessor to spread the word that \u201cJapan is Back!\u201d. \u201cI have thrown away my own work-life balance, and I will work, work, work,\u201d Takaichi said in her victory speech. Warnings for foreigners Some of her supporters viewed her selection as a watershed in Japan\u2019s male-dominated politics, though opinion polls suggest her socially conservative positions are favoured more by men than women. \u201cThe fact that a woman was chosen might be seen positively. I think it shows that Japan is truly starting to change and that message is getting across,\u201d 30-year-old company worker Misato Kikuchi said outside Tokyo\u2019s Shimbashi station. Takaichi must also seek to blunt the rise of Sanseito, which broke into the political mainstream in a July election, appealing to conservative voters disillusioned with the LDP. Echoing Sanseito\u2019s warnings about foreigners, she kicked off her first official campaign speech with an anecdote about tourists reportedly kicking sacred deer in her hometown of Nara. Takaichi, whose mother was a police officer, promised to clamp down on rule-breaking visitors and immigrants, who have come to Japan in record numbers in recent years. \u201cWe hope she will \u2026 steer Japanese politics in an \u2018anti-globalism\u2019 direction to protect national interests and help the people regain prosperity and hope,\u201d Sanseito said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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