Japan May Elect Youngest-Ever or First Woman Prime Minister After Shock Resignation

Breitbart ^ | 09/09/2025 | John Hayward

[DFG]

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan is preparing for a special election in October to replace outgoing Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru, who announced his resignation after less than a year in office on Sunday.

Among the top contenders to replace him are Ishibia’s stalwart ally, farm minister Koizumi Shinjiro, and one of his toughest critics, former economic minister Takaichi Sanae.

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Takaichi Sanae, 64, would become the first female prime minister of Japan if she gets the nod. She narrowly lost the leadership election to Ishiba last year in a runoff vote.

Takaichi, formerly minister for economic security and internal affairs at different points in her career, is a conservative LDP stalwart who supports revising the Japanese constitution to remove its pacifist clauses.

Takaichi was a close ally of former prime minister Abe Shinzo, who was assassinated in July 2022 after leaving office, and she has been highly critical of Ishiba. She has spoken of her desire to “put the backbone back into the LDP.” She would probably be the best choice for rallying disaffected conservative voters back to the party, but her detractors fear she could drive moderates away and complicate LDP’s dealings with other parties in the Diet.

Koizumi, 44, would become the youngest prime minister of Japan if he wins the race. The record holder is Abe, who was 52 when he took office. Koizumi is the son of a former prime minister, Koizumi Junichiro, who held office from 2001 to 2006.

Koizumi finished third behind Ishiba and Takaichi last time around, but some party-watchers believe his position has improved since then thanks to his charisma and the sense that he could give the party a fresh start.

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TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: ishibashigeru; japan; koizumishinjiro; ldp; takaichisanae

[aimhigh]

She is a liberal, and is OK with banning speech against the government.

[Organic Panic]

“FIRST” almost always means the worst. Nothing but “feel good” BS that ruin nations to make the sheeple feel good about themselves for voting for “THE FIRST.”

[Mariner]

Give ‘em the chance to be martial again.

We could use the help.

[Choppo]

There’s no good options because they govern as a group and the elders are still control. I don’t think any of them can or wants to make tough decisions: stopping mass immigration, cutting spending, reducing regulation, reshoring jobs from China. building more nuclear power plants. LDP will continue to fall until Sanseito takes power in 2027, similar to what happening in UK.

[packrat35]

Takaichi is a hard-line conservative and hard-line nationalist.She has expressed social conservative views including opposition to same-sex marriage and support for requiring couples to share a surname after marriage. She said that a government gender equality plan in December 2020 could “destroy the social structure based on family units”. Takaichi also opposes the law being changed to allow for a woman to be able to become the emperor of Japan.

[Libloather]