Japan coalition set to back Takaichi as first woman prime minister: Reports

According to local media reports, Sanae Takaichi will become the first woman prime minister of Japan after the main opposition and the ruling party form a coalition government.

According to a report from Japan’s Kyodo news agency on Sunday, Sanae Takaichi, the leader of the traditionally conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and Hirofumi Yoshimura, the leader of the smaller, right-leaning Japan Innovation Party (JIP), Ishin, are scheduled to sign a deal on their alliance on Monday.

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Takaichi led the ruling LDP earlier this month, but her resumption of her governing coalition stifled her bid to become Japan’s first female premier.

The LDP has been collaborating since then to put her best chance of winning back in the top job.

The LDP has given Takaichi the task of bringing the coalition together, while the JIP will hold a legislative plenary meeting on Sunday and a board meeting the following day, according to Kyodo.

Takaichi and Yoshimura were “likely to sign a coalition agreement,” according to the top Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper in Japan.

After the LDP’s junior partner, the Komeito party, left the ruling coalition after 26 years, leading to a political crisis in the nation, reports of a new coalition emerge.

The LDP and JIP’s agreement, which could be finalized on Tuesday, could pave the way for Takaichi’s election as premier, but the parties are still two votes away from passing a majority.

However, Takaichi would only need more MPs’ votes than the other candidate in the event that the vote would turn to a second-round runoff.

The United States President Donald Trump’s announcement to form a coalition comes just days before his anticipated arrival in Japan.