The conservative, from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), became the first to be named prime minister of the Asian country early this Tuesday, after winning the lower house vote to elect the position. The “iron lady”, they call her, because of her toughness.
“Sanae Takaichi has been elected as the new prime minister,” said the spokesman for the Lower House of the Diet, the Japanese national Parliament, Fukushiro Nukaga, at the conclusion of the vote count in that instance, where she won 237 of the 465 votes at stake, four more than she needed.
Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), came in second place with 149 votes; followed by Yuichiro Tamaki, of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), with 28 votes; Tetsuo Saito, of the Komeito Buddhist party, who recently abandoned the coalition with the LDP after 26 years and obtained 24 votes; and remaining votes for minority parties.
Takaichi’s victory was jubilantly announced in the Lower House, whose vote prevails, while voting in the Upper House was still continuing.
The appointment of Takaichi, 64, was practically assured after he signed an agreement the day before with the opposition Japan Innovation Party (Ishin), his new coalition partner, to have their support in the vote, in which the fragmented opposition has not been able to present a joint candidate to confront him.
The change of government in Japan comes after Shigeru Ishiba, 68, became prime minister in September following poor electoral results during his little more than a year in power, when the old coalition lost its majority in both chambers of the Diet, the national Parliament.
Ishiba’s resignation led to primaries in the PLD on October 4 in which Takaichi, one of the hardline profiles of the party, was the winner in the second round.
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Although today her name stands out for breaking the glass ceiling in her country, the truth is that the word feminist does not apply to her, no. The new premier has defended male succession in the Japanese imperial family, rejected same-sex marriage, opposed the use of separate surnames in married couples, and advocates for stricter immigration policies.
It also has a revisionist position on Japan’s wartime past, is critical of the pacifist constitution and promotes greater militarism than the country has allowed itself after the war.
He usually goes to pray regularly at the Yasukuni Shrine, dedicated to the memory of those who died serving the Japanese cause in different conflicts, combatants among whom are war criminals. This has caused discomfort in both Beijing and Seoul, due to past aggression by the Japanese army, so much so that Takaichi avoided going to perform his usual prayers on the eve of the election, and sent a religious decoration instead.
Regardless of where she says her prayers, the new prime minister is in favor of increasing the military budget, as a way to deter China from any advances in the region.
She is an advocate of increased public spending and tax cuts, and has questioned the Central Bank’s raising interest rates, which could put her in an early clash with Ishin, who advocates for a smaller state.
The new head of the Japanese government will have to face a particularly complicated economic scenario, with inflation that ended up ruining Ishiba’s mandate.
