Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has elected Fumio Kishida as its new leader, slating him to be the nation’s 100th prime minister. Kishida received overwhelming backing from parliamentarians ahead of rival candidate Taro Kono, who was favoured by grassroots LDP supporters.
And yet, for the first time in Japan’s history of constitutional democracy dating back to the 19th century, a woman, Sanae Takaichi, might well have become prime minister. Takaichi pledged to follow the domestic and foreign policies of former prime minister Shinzo Abe and won the support of strikingly more MPs, including Abe, than political pundits predicted.