When now-Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi — the factionless, conservative female with iron-like convictions — was elected president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Oct. 4, I knew that establishment heads would explode.
It was that spectacle, after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced in early September that he would resign, as much as Takaichi’s triumph, that I wanted to see most.
The former economic security minister’s victory in the LDP presidential contest and prime ministerial selection, as well as the end of the LDP’s ruling coalition with Komeito, is testament to Takaichi’s political instincts and skills, but it also signifies a changing of the LDP old guard, and possibly a reduction in the number of seats in Japan’s Lower House of parliament.
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