{"id":214928,"date":"2025-10-21T07:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T07:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/214928\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T07:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T07:22:09","slug":"japan-votes-in-countrys-first-ever-female-pm-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/214928\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan votes in country’s first ever female PM | World News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan’s parliament has voted in the country’s first ever female prime minister.<\/p>\n

Sanae Takaichi won 237 votes in the 465-seat lower chamber of parliament, and is also set to secure a majority in the less powerful upper house before being sworn in later today.<\/p>\n

Tuesday’s votes came after her Liberal Democratic Party agreed to a coalition with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party yesterday.<\/p>\n

The last-minute deal came after the Liberal Democrats lost its long-term partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito, which has a more centrist stance.<\/p>\n

Incumbent prime minister Shigeru Ishiba, of Ms Takaichi’s party, announced his resignation last month.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Image:
\n The new prime minister stands and bows after the vote. Pic: AP <\/p>\n

While Ms Takaichi’s election marks the shattering of a glass ceiling for Japan, it also marks a sharp tack to the right.<\/p>\n

She is a staunchly conservative figure who cites Margaret Thatcher as an inspiration, and comes to power at a time when the country is increasingly worried about the cost of living and immigration.<\/p>\n

Japan<\/a> is currently grappling with rising prices that have sparked public anger, fuelling support for oppositions groups including the far-right Sanseito party.<\/p>\n

\"Japanese<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Japanese lawmakers electing the new PM at the Lower House of Parliament in Tokyo. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

\"Ms<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Ms Takaichi arrives at the prime minister’s official residence the Japanese capital. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

Ms Takaichi’s untested alliance is still short of a majority in both houses of parliament and she will need to win over other opposition groups to pass any legislation – which could make her government unstable.<\/p>\n

She said at Monday’s signing ceremony: “Political stability is essential right now. Without stability, we cannot push measures for a strong economy or diplomacy.”<\/p>\n

Read more:
Inside ‘data centre alley’<\/a>
Chess grandmaster dies aged 29<\/a> <\/p>\n

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While she is Japan’s first female PM, Ms Takaichi has previously shown she is in no rush to promote gender equality or diversity.<\/p>\n

She is among the Japanese politicians who have stonewalled measures for women’s advancements and she supports the imperial family’s male-only succession, while opposing same-sex marriage and allowing separate surnames for married couples.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan’s parliament has voted in the country’s first ever female prime minister. Sanae Takaichi won 237 votes in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-214928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}