Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi on Saturday was elected the first female president of the Liberal Democratic Party — and is almost sure to become the country’s first female prime minister — after defeating farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi in a runoff.
Takaichi earned 185 votes against Koizumi’s 156 in a runoff after none of the five candidates in the party leadership race secured a majority in the first round of voting.
Takaichi gained 149 lawmaker votes and 36 LDP chapter votes, topping Koizumi’s 145 votes from lawmakers and 11 from the prefectural chapters. It was her third bid for the party leadership.
“I’m feeling how tough it’s going to be from here on, rather than feeling happy,” Takaichi said after her election.
“We won’t be able to rebuild the party if I don’t get everyone’s help, from all generations,” she added. “I will scrap my work-life balance and work and work and work and work and work.”
At a news conference later in the evening, Takaichi touched on the possibility of expanding the ruling coalition, saying that a new partner would need to agree with the LDP on fundamental issues, including constitutional revision, diplomacy and fiscal policy.
“Just like the LDP-Komeito coalition, we would need to firmly establish a policy agreement and move forward based on that,” Takaichi said. “I’m not sure about the timing yet, but I’d like to hear from as many people as possible as soon as we can.”
Regarding key party positions, Takaichi said she aims to have “everyone, and of all generations” — including election rivals — take part, an apparent reference to mending the divided party. Personnel decisions are expected to be made early next week.
In the initial round of the election, Takaichi came in first with a total of 183 votes — 64 from party lawmakers and 119 votes from rank-and-file members — followed by Koizumi’s 164 votes — 80 from party lawmakers and 84 from the rank and file.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi finished in third place with a total 134 votes, with former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi (59 votes) and former LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (49 votes) lagging behind. Hayashi earned 72 votes from lawmakers, compared with 44 for Kobayashi and 34 for Motegi.
Unlike last year’s race, the policies of the five candidates were harder to differentiate this time around. All stayed away from controversial topics to avoid losing votes from party lawmakers, whose support will make a bigger difference in a runoff.
Leaving room for policy negotiations with opposition parties for a possible expansion of the ruling coalition was also seen as another factor for the lack of distinction in the candidates’ platforms.
An extraordinary session of the Diet — as Japan’s parliament is formally known — to elect a prime minister is expected to be convened in mid-October.
Although the LDP-Komeito coalition doesn’t have a majority in both chambers of parliament, its pick for prime minister is expected to be elected, with opposition parties being unable to rally behind a candidate of their own.
The new president has a number of daunting tasks ahead of her as she seeks to rebuild the party while leading a minority government in both the Lower and Upper houses.
Her first challenge will be to unite the divided party. Her picks for the LDP executive lineup will be key, with all eyes on whether she will include her election rivals and their supporters among those choices.
She will serve the remainder of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s three-year term through September 2027.
Once she is elected prime minister, Takaichi will be facing a parliament in which the LDP-Komeito coalition will need the opposition's cooperation to pass legislation.
She will also need to quickly get up to speed on the diplomatic front, with Tokyo and Washington coordinating a possible bilateral meeting between the new prime minister and U.S. President Donald Trump for later this month.
A 64-year-old Lower House lawmaker representing Nara’s No. 2 constituency, Takaichi has over 30 years of experience in parliament.
A protege of late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, she has served in several key portfolios both within the party — as policy chief and general affairs council chair — and in the Cabinet.
From 2022 to 2024, she was Japan’s economic security minister. She also holds the record as the longest-serving minister for internal affairs, a post she held in several stints.
Takaichi has long been the poster child of the LDP’s conservative wing — championing causes such as high government spending, a hawkish approach to China and a large defense budget.
However, in her third bid for president, she tried to soften her image in an appeal to enlarge her support within the party. In the last few weeks, she had met repeatedly with former Prime Minister Taro Aso to clinch his support in the election once again after she did so last year.
“I don’t want to be pigeonholed just as a conservative, I’m more of a moderate conservative now that all these parties have come out,” Takaichi said last month, making apparent references to parties such as Sanseito and the Conservative Party of Japan, which she did not name.
Takaichi also called China an “important neighbor” and emphasized the importance of strengthening bilateral relations.
After Saturday’s vote, former Justice Minister Midori Matsushima, one of the 20 lawmakers who endorsed Takaichi in the election, beamed at the prospect of a first female prime minister.
“The first female prime minister is born,” Matsushima said. “I’m so happy that I could witness this. I hope this gives courage to many young women, and to the people like her, who were not born into a family of politicians, who were born and raised in a place that had nothing to do with politics."
Koizumi’s supporters, meanwhile, expressed disappointment.
“These are the results, and we have to accept them with gravitas,” Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato, who served as Koizumi’s election chairman, told reporters after the vote.
“Many people voted in the second round looking at the trends of the first round, where Takaichi won the popular vote,” said Lower House lawmaker Takuma Miyaji, who supported Koizumi.
Leaders of opposition parties that might look to join an expanded coalition expressed a willingness to hold talks with the ruling party under Takaichi.
Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki said Saturday that he is open to negotiations on policy coordination with the ruling bloc, urging Takaichi to consider raising the threshold for income tax exemptions and abolish the provisional gasoline tax surcharge, Kyodo News reported.
Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Hirofumi Yoshimura, meanwhile, told reporters that he’d like to “listen to Takaichi’s thoughts” on his party’s key policies — including social welfare reform and creating a secondary capital outside of Tokyo.
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