It is certain that Takaichi will be elected as the new prime minister to succeed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba through a prime minister-designated election to be held at the extraordinary National Assembly later in the day.
After winning the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election on the 4th, he was in crisis after the Komeito Party, which had cooperative relations with the Liberal Democratic Party for 26 years, broke away from the coalition, but agreed the day before to establish a new coalition with the 2nd opposition Japan Restoration Association.
The prime minister’s nomination election is held by the House of Representatives (House of Representatives) and the House of Representatives (Senate of Representatives), and if the results are different, the vote of the House of Representatives is prioritized.
If a majority vote is obtained in the first round of the House of Representatives, the election is virtually confirmed, and if there is no majority vote, the top two will hold a final vote. Securing a majority is not a necessary condition in the final vote, and simply a candidate with more votes is elected as prime minister.
The LDP and the Yushin Conference have 196 and 35 seats, respectively. They are two short of the 233 majority.
However, about four independent lawmakers are considering voting for Takaichi, so there is a possibility that the first vote will determine the outcome, Kyodo News reported.
If Takaichi is elected as prime minister, he will become the 104th prime minister since Hirobumi Ito, who Japan introduced a cabinet system in 1885 and became the first prime minister.
President Takaichi will officially launch a new cabinet after a pro-imitation ceremony and a ministerial certification ceremony to receive a letter of appointment from the Emperor.
Former Defense Minister Minoru Hakira is expected to serve as a spokesman for the Japanese government, and former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi will be used as a foreign minister in charge of foreign policy.
Takaichi will also be appointed as minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi. The government is considering appointing Koizumi as defense minister and Hayashi as general affairs minister.
Kyodo News reported, “President Takaichi is emphasizing ‘all activities, all gatherings of all generations’ as a personnel policy,” adding, “There are opinions that young people and women will be actively selected as ministers.”
He added that the focus is also on whether to select lawmakers involved in the Liberal Democratic Party’s “secret fund scandal” as ministers.
The Liberal Democratic Party gave the existing coalition partner, the New Komeito, a position in the Land, Infrastructure and Transport, but the Yushin Association decided not to join the coalition even if it participated in it.
This type of ‘external cooperation’ is bound to have a relatively light responsibility for the operation of the regime and a weak cooperative relationship.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun observed that if issues that the two parties have not agreed on emerge and the disagreement grows, the Restoration Society may not cooperate with the government or the Liberal Democratic Party.
Some analysts say that as the Liberal Democratic Party breaks up with the moderate conservative New Komeito and joins hands with the hard-line conservative Yushin Association, the policy pursued by the Takaichi Cabinet will have a clear conservative color.
President Takaichi is expected to establish high price measures after taking office as prime minister, while carrying out diplomatic schedules such as a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump and attending the Gyeongju Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
EJ SONG
US ASIA JOURNAL
