Takaichi won, Japan towards the first female premier in its history
The 64-year-old conservative and nationalist leader defeated the young Shinjiro Koizumi in the ballot to assume the leadership of the Ldp
From our correspondent
NEW DELHI - In a move aimed at mending ties with its electoral base, even at the risk of chilling relations with China and Korea and generating tensions among investors, Japan's main political party yesterday chose 64-year-old Sanae Takaichi as its leader, creating the conditions for Tokyo's parliament to elect a woman to lead the country for the first time in a dozen days' time. After an initial vote in which none of the five candidates reached a quorum, in the runoff Takaichi prevailed by 185 votes to 156 over 44-year-old Shinjiro Koizumi and took the reins of the Liberal Democratic Party (Ldp), the conservative party that has dominated almost the entire political life of post-war Japan.
The choice of the LDP MPs marks a discontinuity in several respects. Not only because the white whale of Japanese politics had never before relied on a woman, but also because, after two premiers who were more liberal than the party's centre of gravity, the new leader marks an abrupt shift towards conservative and nationalist positions.
Normally winning the leadership of the Ldp automatically results in the premiership. This time there is a margin of uncertainty because in the last two elections the LDP lost its majority in both houses of parliament. In order to have the votes to govern, Takaichi will have to maintain relations with her current allies in Komeito, a Buddhist party with more moderate positions than her, and enlarge the majority to another party. The most likely candidates seem to be the conservatives of the Democratic Party for the People, a party known for its fiscally expansive positions. A pact with Sanseito, a right-wing populist party with xenophobic overtones that came to the fore in last July's vote, is less likely due to a question of numbers in the lower house.
Takaichi grew up in the shadow of Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving prime minister in Japan's history, and has never made a secret of having been inspired by Margaret Thatcher. In foreign policy, the new LP president is considered a hawk who could push for further defence investments and have complicated relations with other powers in the region. In the past, Takaichi has repeatedly visited the Yasukuni shrine, the most conspicuous symbol of Japan's militaristic and war crime ridden past.
