Hurdles appear removed for Japan’s potential 1st female premier as opposition loses steam

ISTANBUL

The opposition Japan Innovation Party (JIP) announced on Friday that it is close to reaching a coalition agreement with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to elect its prime minister, the first woman to lead an East Asian nation.

Sanae Takaichi, a staunch conservative and close ally of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, made history as the first woman to lead the LDP, but her path to becoming Japan’s next prime minister was jeopardized last week when the LDP’s coalition partner Komeito pulled out of their long-standing alliance.

The JIP, which has been in coalition talks with the LDP since Thursday, announced on Friday that it will end its talks with the two other major opposition parties about putting forward a joint candidate for the election, according to Kyodo News.

The LDP holds 196 seats in the 465-member lower house, while the JIP has 35. To elect a prime minister, 233 seats are needed.

Japan’s Parliament will vote for a new prime minister on Tuesday, following Shigeru Ishiba’s resignation on September 7 due to his coalition’s poor performance in both the October 2024 Lower House and the July 2025 Upper House elections.

Fumitake Fujita, co-leader of the JIP, described collaboration with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which has 148 seats, and the Democratic Party for the People, which has 27 seats, as “very difficult” during a news conference.

Fujita said policy consultations with the LDP “moved forward considerably” at the two parties’ meeting on Friday, and that they will make “final arrangements” to reach an agreement on cooperation.

JIP announced that it will support Takaichi if the LDP agrees to reflect its policy priorities.

Earlier Friday, JIP leader and Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura declared on a TV program that his party will not form a coalition with the LDP unless they agree by the end of the year on specific cuts to parliamentary seats, calling it a “nonnegotiable condition.”

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