“Shock Outcome:” Japan Hardline Conservative Takaichi Elected Party Leader, Set To Become First Female Prime Minister
“Virtually no one—including media, political analysts, opposition parties, and even LDP insiders—had expected this result.”
SAT OCT 4, AT 9:22 PM
BY TYLER DURDEN
SATURDAY, OCT 04, 2025 – 09:22 PM
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) elected former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi as its new leader, positioning her to become the country’s next prime minister in a parliamentary confirmation vote expected in mid-October.
Takaichi, 64, a staunch conservative and vocal China hawk, defeated her moderate rival Shinjiro Koizumi by 185 votes to 156 in a runoff at LDP headquarters in Tokyo. The victory makes her Japan’s first female party president and, almost certainly, its first female prime minister since the LDP remains the largest bloc in parliament and opposition parties are too fragmented to mount a united challenge.