Ldp Jip Form Pact Takaichi Set To Become Japan S First Woman Pm

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Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the major opposition Japan Innovation Party (JIP) signed a coalition agreement on Monday, with LDP head Sanae Takaichi almost certain to become Japan’s first woman prime minister the following day, Kyodo News Agency reported.
In a historic change in the nation’s political landscape, LDP will lead a minority government by partnering with JIP, also called Nippon Ishin, instead of the Komeito party, which ended its 26-year partnership with LDP earlier this month.
Ahead of talks between the two parties to sign a coalition agreement later on Monday, JIP decided at a meeting of its lawmakers to vote for Takaichi, who succeeded outgoing prime minister Shigeru Ishiba as party leader on Oct 4, in a parliamentary vote on Tuesday to elect the next prime minister.
JIP chief Hirofumi Yoshimura told reporters in Osaka on Monday morning that he had formally conveyed his party’s intention to form a coalition with the LDP during a phone call with Takaichi, saying, “Let’s move Japan forward together.”
ADSAlthough the LDP-JIP alliance will fall slightly short of a majority in the more powerful House of Representatives, Takaichi, known as a staunch conservative, is expected to win the prime-ministerial election since other parties are unlikely to unite behind a joint candidate.
Fumitake Fujita, co-leader of JIP, told a press conference that the party, which has been seeking to reduce the number of parliamentary seats, had agreed with LDP to cut those in the lower house by 10 percent during an upcoming extraordinary Diet session from Tuesday through Dec 17.
Abolishing consumption tax
The two parties have also affirmed that LDP would strive to realise JIP’s proposals to temporarily abolish the consumption tax on food and introduce a ban on corporate and organisational political donations as conditions for joining a coalition.
JIP, headquartered in the western prefecture of Osaka, is expected to cooperate with LDP without taking cabinet posts for the time being, according to senior officials from both parties.
Japan’s ParliamentJIP had been in talks with the largest opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People over a possible collaboration to counter LDP.
However, after agreeing last Wednesday to enter negotiations with LDP, which has held power almost continuously since its foundation in 1955, JIP ended the talks with CDPJ and DPP.
Takaichi was elected LDP chief following Ishiba’s announcement that he would resign last month to take responsibility for his party’s major setback in the House of Councillors election in July, which saw the ruling camp with Komeito lose its majority in both parliamentary chambers.
In the 465-member lower house, whose decision on the selection of the prime minister takes precedence over that of the upper chamber, LDP holds 196 seats and JIP has 35, while CDPJ holds 148, DPP 27, and Komeito 24.
- Bernama

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