Radical conservative Sanae Takaichi was elected Japanthe country’s first female prime minister on Tuesday, shattering the country’s glass ceiling and setting it up for a forceful shift to the right.
An acolyte of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and admirer of Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, Takaichi obtained 237 votes in the lower house elections to choose the next prime minister, surpassing the majority of the chamber’s 465 seats.
His victory marks a pivotal moment for a country where men still exercise overwhelming control. But it is also likely that it will mark the start of a sharper shift to the right on issues like immigration and social issues.
Takaichi’s victory was assured after his Liberal Democratic Party, which governed Japan for most of its postwar history, agreed on Monday to a coalition deal with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin.
Public anger over rising prices
After years of deflation, Japan is now grappling with rising prices, which has sparked public anger and fueled support for opposition groups, including far-right newcomers.
Like Abe, Takaichi is expected to favor public spending to revive a weakened economy. That triggered what’s known as a “Takaichi trade” in the stock market, sending the Nikkei stock average to record highs, most recently on Tuesday. But it has also sparked some unease among investors over the government’s ability to finance additional spending in a country where debt levels far exceed annual output.
Takaichi received enough votes to secure the prime minister’s post, but to govern effectively she will need the support of more opposition lawmakers, said Tadashi Mori, a politics professor at Aichi Gakuin University.
“Both parties do not have a majority in either house and to ensure a stable government and take control of key parliamentary committees, they will need to obtain more than half of the seats,” he said.
Any attempt to revive Abenomics could also face difficulties, Mori said, because it was designed to combat deflation.
“In the current inflationary environment, further stimulus measures may only weaken the yen,” Mori said.
During her campaign, Takaichi declared that defense and national security would be the essential pillars of any administration she led. She is committed to increasing JapanThe country’s defense spending, deepen security cooperation with the United States and other partners.
A frequent visitor to the Yasukuni War Shrine in Tokyo, which some Asian neighbors view as a symbol of wartime aggression, she has also called for a review of the Japanthe post-war pacifist constitution to recognize the existence of the nation’s military forces.
