Sanae Takaichi set to become Japan’s first female prime minister

(BBC News)- 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 ruling party’s right. A former government minister, TV host and avid heavy metal drummer, she is one of the best known figures in Japanese politics – and a controversial one at that.

She faces many challenges, including contending with a sluggish economy and households struggling with relentless inflation and stagnant wages.

She will also have to navigate a rocky US-Japan relationship and see through a tariff deal with the Trump administration agreed by the previous government.

If confirmed as prime minister, one of Takaichi’s key challenges will be uniting the party after a turbulent few years which saw it rocked by scandals and internal conflicts.

Last month, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, whose term lasted just over a year, announced he would step down after a series of election defeats that saw the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) governing coalition lose its majority in both chambers of parliament.

Prof Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo, told the BBC that Takaichi was unlikely to have “much success at healing the internal party rift”.

Takaichi belongs to the “hardline” faction of the LDP, which believed that “the reason the LDP support has imploded is because it lost touch with its right-wing DNA”, he added.

“I think she’s in a good position to regain the right wing voters, but at the expense of wider popular appeal, if they go into a national election.”

Takaichi has been a long-time admirer of Britain’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. She is now ever closer to fulfilling her Iron Lady ambition.

But many women voters don’t see her as an advocate for progress.

“She calls herself Japan’s Margaret Thatcher. In terms of fiscal discipline, she’s anything but Thatcher,” Prof Kingston said.

“But like Thatcher she’s not much of a healer. I don’t think she’s done much to empower women.”

Takaichi is a staunch conservative who’s long opposed legislation allowing women to keep their maiden names after marriage, saying it is against tradition. She is also against same sex marriage.

A protégé of the late former leader Shinzo Abe, Takaichi has vowed to bring back his economic vision, known as Abenomics – which involves high fiscal spending and cheap borrowing.

The LDP veteran is hawkish on security and aims to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution.

She’s also a regular visitor of the controversial Yasukuni shrine where Japan’s war dead including some convicted war criminals are memorialised.

She will likely be confirmed by parliament, although not automatically like her predecessors because the ruling party is in a much weaker position now having lost its majority in both houses.