Takaichi becomes Japan’s first female PM, ending political crisis

SCMP | Oct. 21, 2025, 12:53 a.m. | Original

Sanae Takaichi receives applause after being elected as Japan’s prime minister at the Lower House of Parliament in Tokyo on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Japan ’s parliament elected ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi as the country’s first female prime minister on Tuesday, a day after her struggling party struck a coalition deal with a new partner expected to pull her governing bloc further to the right.
Takaichi , 64, replaces Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political vacuum and wrangling since the Liberal Democratic Party’s disastrous election loss in July.

Ishiba, who lasted only one year as prime minister, resigned with his cabinet earlier in the day, paving the way for his successor.

Takaichi won 237 votes – four more than a majority – compared to 149 won by Yoshikoko Noda, head of the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, in the lower house, which elects the prime minister. As the results were announced, Takaichi stood up and bowed deeply.

The LDP’s alliance with the Osaka-based right-wing Japan Innovation Party (JIP), or Ishin no Kai, ensured her premiership because the opposition is not united. Takaichi’s untested alliance is still short of a majority in both houses of parliament and will need to court other opposition groups to pass any legislation – a risk that could make her government unstable and short-lived.

“Political stability is essential right now,” Takaichi said at Monday’s signing ceremony with the JIP leader and Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura. “Without stability, we cannot push measures for a strong economy or diplomacy.”

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