Sanae Takaichi’s bid to be elected as Japan’s first female Prime Minister appeared to gain some momentum this week, with a key parliamentary vote to pick the next premier scheduled for Tuesday.
Sanae Takaichi’s bid to be elected as Japan’s first female Prime Minister appeared to gain some momentum this week, with a key parliamentary vote to pick the next premier scheduled for Tuesday.
Takaichi, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, has been holding negotiations with the right-leading Japan Innovation Party -- or Ishin -- following the collapse of a more than two-decade old partnership with the Komeito Party earlier this month.
On Friday, party executives said "big progress" had been made in talks towards clinching a potential coalition, Reuters reported.
The LDP and Ishin together hold a combined 231 seats in the lower house of Japan’s parliament, just two shy of the simple majority needed for Takaichi to win the premiership. To get those remaining votes, the LDP has been asking for cooperation from smaller parties.
Media reports said Ishin has also decided to pull out of talks with the smaller Constitutional Democratic Party and Democratic Party for the People over forming a three-way coalition to rival the LDP -- which has ruled Japan for nearly all of its post-war history.
