Japan’s former Minister of Economic Security and Safety, Sanae Takaichi, has been elected as the 29th President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and is poised to become Japan’s first female prime minister.
Takaichi has already begun preparing for the party’s internal affairs and forming a cabinet. According to Japanese media reports, the other four candidates who ran in the election will also be appointed to key positions in the new government: former Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi will return as Foreign Minister, former Minister of Economic Security and Safety Takayoshi Kobayashi will become the LDP’s Policy Research Council Chairman, current Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Shinjiro Koizumi, and current Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshi Hase will be brought back into the cabinet.
The key figure behind Takaichi’s election victory is the 85-year-old top advisor of the LDP, Taro Aso, whose faction’s members are expected to be given prominent roles in the new government. Aso will become the LDP’s Vice President, his faction member Shunichi Suzuki will serve as the LDP Secretary-General, and former Minister for Reducing the Number of Children, Yuko Obuchi of the Aso faction, will take on the role of the LDP’s General Affairs Committee Chair.
The Japanese parliament is set to convene a meeting on October 15 for the selection of the Prime Minister, at which Takaichi is expected to be nominated as the new Prime Minister.
On October 5, Japanese media outlets extensively covered Aso Taro, the veteran politician and former Prime Minister, who played a crucial role in supporting Takaichi’s election campaign strategy.
In the recent leadership election within the LDP, there were five candidates: Sanae Takaichi, Shinjiro Koizumi, Hiroshi Hase, Toshimitsu Motegi, and Takayoshi Kobayashi. The LDP’s parliamentary members total 295, with Takaichi having the support of over 50 members, Koizumi 80 members, Hase 50 members, while Kobayashi and Motegi each garnered support from 30 members.
After the first round of voting ended without a candidate securing a majority, Takaichi and Koizumi advanced to the second round as the top two vote-getters.
The second round of voting consists of 295 parliamentary votes and 47 local votes.
Throughout the election process, Taro Aso has refrained from openly declaring his stance. In the previous leadership election, he supported Takaichi, but lost to Shigeru Ishiba, backed by former Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga.
Prior to the election, Koizumi’s team planned to coordinate votes behind the scenes with Hiroshi Hase’s camp, ranked third, if they made it to the second round, in a bid to secure more “parliamentary votes” for victory. Hase’s camp even agreed upon a secret voting signal – “voting with the right hand represents support for Koizumi, while voting with the left hand represents support for Takaichi.”
The media speculated that Koizumi would receive over 100 parliamentary votes.
However, during the voting, some members of Hase’s camp did indeed use their right hand to cast their votes in support of Koizumi. Nevertheless, some ended up switching sides at the last minute and voted for Takaichi. One member of parliament remarked that Takaichi had strong support from party members and local constituents, and as a representative, one should adhere to the will of the people.
Following the party leadership election, a video interview from when Taro Aso was 38 years old began circulating online. At the time, Aso stated, “I want to be a politician who guides Japan in the right direction.”
Sanae Takaichi was born on March 7, 1961, in Nara Prefecture, Japan. Coming from a humble background with no family members involved in politics, she stands out in the LDP, which is dominated by “hereditary politicians.”
After graduating from university, she furthered her studies at the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management to groom herself as a politician, specializing in public policy and political ethics, before working as a research intern in the United States Congress. Upon her return to Japan, she entered politics.
The real turning point came in the late 1990s with her meeting Abe Shinzo. Abe appreciated her political views and proactive approach, seeing her as a rising star among conservatives. Subsequently, she solidified her position as a “conservative flag bearer,” particularly on issues related to national defense, the constitution, and traditional values.
Takaichi has challenged the LDP presidential elections three times. Despite not winning on multiple occasions, her solid support base among conservatives has made her a significant political figure within the party. Her slogan, “Make the Japanese archipelago stronger and wealthier,” has resonated with many.