Tokyo: Japan's staunchly conservative former interior minister, Sanae Takaichi, was elected by parliament on Tuesday as the country's first female prime minister. The 64-year-old succeeds the comparatively liberal Shigeru Ishiba, who recently announced his resignation following election defeats for their Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
According to Ghana News Agency, Takaichi owes her election to the LDP's new coalition partner, the conservative neoliberal Japan Innovation Party (Ishin). The opposition camp could not agree on a joint candidate. Despite being the largest party, the LDP, even with the Innovation Party, is just short of a majority in parliament, meaning that it will continue to lead a minority government.
Experts have noted that the Innovation Party has not contributed a single member to Takaichi's new Cabinet, showing the party's cautious distance from the major government partner. This, they argue, also makes the alliance appear unstable. Takaichi, who used to play drums in a heavy metal band, and likes to present herself as Japan's Iron Lady in the style of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, faces significant challenges. She must lead a party struggling to regain voters' trust after financial scandals, alongside addressing a rapidly ageing population and geopolitical tensions.
Takaichi is considered a prot©g© of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022. She promised to revive his economic policy of 'Abenomics,' which consisted of monetary easing and economic stimulus. The Nikkei Index on Tokyo's stock exchange closed at an all-time high, in anticipation of new economic stimulus measures under Takaichi.
The problem is that Abenomics is no longer very credible, Jeff Kingston, a professor of Asian Studies at Japan's Temple University, told dpa in Tokyo. He said this policy had contributed to massive national debt and exacerbated income inequalities in the country. Added to this is the high inflation, caused by the cheap yen, he said.
Takaichi also shares Abe's nationalist and revisionist views and is known for her pilgrimages to the Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo. The shrine commemorates those who died in wars for the Japanese Empire, including convicted and executed war criminals. With Takaichi, the LDP hopes to win back conservative voters who have turned to the far-right minor party Sanseito (Party of Do It Yourself).
