TOKYO: Japan’s parliament elected ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi as the country’s first female prime minister Tuesday, a day after her struggling party struck a coalition deal with a new partner expected to pull her governing bloc further to the right.
Takaichi replaces Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political vacuum and wrangling since the Liberal Democratic Party’s disastrous election loss in July.
Ishiba, who lasted only one year as prime minister, resigned with his Cabinet earlier in the day, paving the way for his successor.
Takaichi won 237 votes – four more than a majority – compared to 149 won by Yoshikoko Noda, head of the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, in the lower house, which elects the prime minister. As the results were announced, Takaichi stood up and bowed deeply.
The LDP’s alliance with the Osaka-based rightwing Japan Innovation Party, or Ishin no Kai, ensured her premiership because the opposition is not united. Takaichi’s untested alliance is still short of a majority in both houses of parliament and will need to court other opposition groups to pass any legislation – a risk that could make her government unstable and short-lived.
The two parties signed a coalition agreement on policies underscoring Takaichi’s hawkish and nationalistic views.
Their last-minute deal came after the Liberal Democrats lost its longtime partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito, which has a more dovish and centrist stance. The breakup threatened a change of power for the LDP, which has governed Japan almost uninterrupted for decades.
Tackling rising prices and other economic measures is the top priority for the Takaichi government, LDP Secretary General Shunichi Suzuki told NHK public television as he apologized over the delay because of the party’s internal power struggle since the July election. He said the new coalition will cooperate with other opposition parties to quickly tackle rising prices to “live up to the expectations of the people.”
Later in the day, Takaichi, 64, will present a Cabinet with a number of allies of LDP’s most powerful kingmaker, Taro Aso, and others who backed her in the party leadership vote.
JIP will not hold ministerial posts in Takaichi’s Cabinet until his party is confident about its partnership with the LDP, Yoshimura said.
Takaichi is running on deadline, as she prepares for a major policy speech later this week, talks with US President Donald Trump and regional summits. She needs to quickly tackle rising prices and compile economy-boosting measures by late December to address public frustration.
While she is the first woman serving as Japan’s prime minister, she is in no rush to promote gender equality or diversity.
Takaichi is among Japanese politicians who have stonewalled measures for women’s advancement. Takaichi supports the imperial family’s male-only succession and opposes same-sex marriage and allowing separate surnames for married couples.
A protege of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Takaichi is expected to emulate his policies including a stronger military and economy, as well as revising Japan’s pacifist constitution. With her potentially weak grip on power, it’s unknown how much Takaichi will be able to achieve.
Also an admirer of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Takaichi was first elected to parliament in 1993 and has served in a number of senior party and government posts, including as ministers of economic security and internal affairs, but her diplomatic background is thin.
When Komeito left the governing coalition, it cited the LDP’s lax response to slush fund scandals that led to their consecutive election defeats.
The centrist party also raised concern about Takaichi’s revisionist view of Japan’s wartime past and her regular prayers at Yasukuni Shrine despite protests from Beijing and Seoul that see the visits as lack of remorse about Japanese aggression, as well as her recent xenophobic remarks.
Takaichi has toned down her hawkish rhetoric. On Friday, she sent a religious ornament instead of going to Yasukuni.
Japan’s parliament elects Sanae Takaichi as nation’s first female prime minister
https://arab.news/vs8f5
Japan’s parliament elects Sanae Takaichi as nation’s first female prime minister
- Takaichi replaces Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political vacuum and wrangling
- Tackling rising prices and other economic measures is the top priority for the Takaichi government
Russia increasing hybrid threats around Sweden: Swedish military intelligence
- “Russia has, in certain cases, stepped up actions and increased its presence,” Nilsson said
- Russia was “constantly developing its capabilities and was ready to take greater risks and use them“
STOCKHOLM: Russia has stepped up its hybrid threat activities and seems willing to take greater risks in Sweden and the region, the head of Sweden’s military intelligence told AFP on Tuesday.
“Russia has, in certain cases, stepped up actions and increased its presence — and perhaps with a greater risk appetite — in our vicinity,” Thomas Nilsson, head of Sweden’s Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST), told AFP.
He added that he believed Moscow would “unfortunately” continue doing so — regardless of whether it succeeds in Ukraine or not.
Nilsson did not cite any particular attacks, but MUST said in its yearly threat review released Tuesday that Russia “has developed a wide range of methods that can be used within the framework of hybrid warfare,” including disinformation, cyberattacks, economic sanctions, intelligence operations, and election interference.
“A certain desperation can set in, where you push even harder to reach your goals,” Nilsson said, referring to Russia.
Conversely, he said that if Russia were to succeed “that can lead to an increased appetite for risk.”
Russia was “constantly developing its capabilities and was ready to take greater risks and use them.”
“Including what I call advanced sabotage. Including assassination plots, serious arson, and attacks on critical societal infrastructure,” he said.
In its review, the agency noted that so far “the most risk-prone actions through sabotage and hybrid measures have mainly affected other allies.”
But Nilsson also told AFP that Sweden’s security situation had continued to deteriorate, as it has in previous years, particularly since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is also the main “military threat to Sweden and NATO,” the review stated, warning the threat was likely to grow as Russia increases resources for its armed forces.
“Alongside resources for the war in Ukraine, Russia is reinforcing its resources in the Baltic Sea region, as it is a strategically very important region for Russia, both economically and militarily,” MUST wrote in the review.
MUST said that the Baltic Sea build-up “has already begun,” but added that “the pace will be affected” by the course of the war in Ukraine as well as the Russian economy and the country’s relations with China.
The report came as Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were due to meet in Geneva for fresh US-brokered talks seeking to end the four-year war, as both sides accused the other of a fresh wave of long-range strikes.
