Sanae Takaichi to become first female Prime Minister of Japan | BBC News
Out of Japan, the country is set to have its first ever female prime minister. It’s after in the last few minutes, Sanai Takahichi won the ruling Conservative Party leadership election. And these are live pictures from Tokyo where you can see her there on stage. She has been talking. Let’s go live to our Tokyo correspondent, Shima Kil. Uh Shima, history made. What’s she been saying? A history-making moment here for Japan as the country is set to have its first ever female prime minister. A moment I would say that many Japanese people, including Japanese women, thought would never come. Sai Takayichi has gone for the leadership um of the ruling party before and she hadn’t won. This year was her time in the limelight. She has long been um an admirer of Britain’s first ever prime minister, the late Margaret Thatcher. And now she’s ever closer to um fulfilling that Iron Lady uh ambition. She’s been speaking after uh the announcement of her victory, saying a new era has come to the LDP. One would argue that a new era has come to Japanese politics who’s never had a woman leader ever before in its history. She also said that we need to change the LDP so people’s anxiety turns to hope. Looking there into the difficult times that Japanese households have been struggling with, especially with the cost of living crisis and stagnant a stagnant economy and stagnant wages. One of the things that jumped at me is when she said, “I’m getting rid of the word work life balance because I plan to work very hard and I want everyone around me to work very hard.” She says that my happiness is overshadowed by the responsibility that I now have and indeed it is a big responsibility for the new LDP leader who is likely not automatically but likely to be confirmed by parliament. She has to unite a fractured party. She has to restore uh the public’s uh trust into the LDP that has ruled the country for most of its post-war era, but that has really been marred by a series of scandals and two very humiliating defeats um that had them lose power, sorry, lose control in both houses of parliament. Mr. Akaichi may be the first ever female prime minister in a sea of men that control Japan’s politics, but many women voters will tell you that they don’t see her as a sign of progress because she is a staunch conservative. For example, she’s long opposed the legislation for women to keep their maiden name after marriage. She says this is against tradition. She is also against same-sex marriage and hasn’t changed her stance on that. She softened her tone a tone a little bit when it came to women’s issues during this campaign, saying that she will as prime minister uh work more to for child care costs um to alleviate that um for women to be able to work and take care of their children. The LDP veteran is a protig of the late uh Prime Minister Shinszo Abbey. She’s hawkish when it comes to security. She wants to revise the country’s um pacifist constitution. So anticipate some friction on that. She’s also a regular visitor of the controversial Yasukuni shrine which has which where the Japan’s war dead are buried but also convicted war criminals. So she is a controversial figure but right now Japan is set to have its first ever female prime minister and that in itself is a historical moment. Absolutely. Sha live in Tokyo. Thank you very much.
Japan’s ruling conservative party has elected Sanae Takaichi as its new leader, positioning the 64-year-old to be Japan’s first female prime minister.
Takaichi is among the more conservative candidates leaning to the party’s right. She faces many challenges including uniting a struggling ruling party after a turbulent few years which saw it rocked by scandals and internal conflicts.
She also has to contend with a sluggish economy and Japanese households struggling with relentless inflation and a stagnant wages.
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