Will Japan get its first woman PM? Ruling party to elect new leader today

With the end of intense campaigning, Japan’s ruling party is all set to vote for its new leader on Friday. The hunt for a new leader started after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced last month that he won’t stand for re-election. Hence, whoever is named as the new chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), will assume the office of the Prime Minister.

The conservative party remained dominant for most part of the post-war era. However, it has been rocked by several scandals and international conflicts that have left its once-powerful faction in complete shambles. A record nine candidates are vying for the prime ministerial post, the largest number in the LDP’s history.

The winner of Friday’s contest will be decided by an internal party vote rather than a public one. One policy change that remained consistent among almost all the contestants is the pledge to overhaul the embattled LDP in the face of public furry and declining approval ratings. “In the upcoming presidential election, it’s necessary to show the people that the Liberal Democratic Party will change,” Prime Minister Kishida said at a press conference last month when announcing his decision not to run for another term.

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Will Japan get its first female PM?

The latest polling pointed to a wide-open contest between 63-year-old Sanae Takaichi, who is vying to become the LDP’s - and Japan’s - first female leader, 43-year-old Shinjiro Koizumi, the youngest candidate in the race Shigeru Ishiba, 67, a former defence minister contesting the LDP leadership for the fifth time.

Interestingly, Takaichi’s positions on women’s issues are also in contrast to those of Koizumi and Ishiba, who are both in favour of allowing female emperors – one of the hugely controversial topics in Japan.

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Also in the running for the LDP leadership are Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, who is the other female candidate; Digital Transformation Minister Taro Kono, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, Toshimitsu Motegi, the LDP’s secretary-general; Takayuki Kobayashi, a former economic security minister; and Katsunobu Kato, a former chief cabinet secretary.

It is pertinent to note that four out of the nine candidates have served as Japan’s Foreign Minister and three as Defence Minister. Results of the party leadership contest are set to be announced on Friday. In the first round of voting LDP lawmakers will be casting 367 ballots, followed by another 368 votes to represent the party’s membership base of approximately 1.1 million.

If no one wins a majority in the first round, then a run-off will be conducted between the top two candidates. The winner of the polls will be then announced as Japan’s Prime Minister by the parliament which is expected to resume in early October.