Tokyo – JapanThe ruling party chose Sanai Takaichi New leader On Saturday, setting it up to become the first woman -premier -minister of the US ally.
Takaichi defeated Sinjiro Koyzumi from 185 to 156 in the second round of voting to become the leader of the conservative liberal democratic party (LDP), which ruled Japan almost continuous since the end of World War II.
The leadership race was called last month when the prime minister Shigeru Isiba He said that he would resign after a year. Although Takaichi will probably replace it as Prime Minister of Japan, the fourth largest economy of the world, when the parliament votes at the end of this month, is not guaranteed, since the coalition led by LDP Lost the majority in both houses last year.
Takaichi, 64 years old, a conservative nationalist who lists a former British leader Margaret Thatcher As one of her images to follow, was an ally of the murdered former prime minister -minister Shinzo AbeThe longest leader of Japan.
But there are fears that the nationalist historical views of Takaichi can cause friction with ChinaLeading trading partner of Japan.
The 44 -year -old Kozumi, the son of the former prime minister of Junichiro Koyzumi, would be the youngest leader of Japan since the time of Hirobumi, who was only a few months younger than Koyzumi, when he became the first prime minister of the country in 1885.
The party voted for five candidates in the first round, when Takaichi received 183 votes for 164 by Kozumi. Yoshimas Hayashi, 64, the senior representative of the current Japanese government, took third place with 134 votes after a recent survey surge.
Voices in the first round were evenly divided between 294 LDP lawmakers and almost 1 million party members, which were represented by 295 votes. Legislators preferred more moderate Koyzumi, while the party members preferred Takaichi, who has a passionate tough base.
In the second round, legislators had the same number of votes, while the party members were 47, which represented 47 prefectures of Japan.
Legislators in the second round voted from 149 to 145 in favor of Takaichi, while party members gave her 36 votes compared to 11 Kozumi.
Arata Yamamoto reported from Tokyo, and Jennifer Jett from Hong Kong.
