Japan's ruling coalition collapsed on Friday after its junior partner Komeito quit, raising doubts about whether conservative Sanae Takaichi will become the country's first female prime minister.
The announcement came less than a week after Takaichi became the Liberal Democratic Party's fifth leader in as many years, tasked with winning back disaffected voters.
The main reason given by Komeito party chief Tetsuo Saito was what he called the LDP's failure to tighten rules on the funding of political parties.
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