Sanae Takaichi elected Japan's first female prime minister

Sanae Takaichi was elected Japan's prime minister on Tuesday, becoming the country’s first woman to hold the post after winning a lower house parliamentary vote that followed a last‑minute coalition agreement. Lawmakers gave Takaichi 237 votes in the 465‑seat lower chamber, and she also secured approval in the upper house, clearing the way for her to assume office amid a tight and uncertain parliamentary landscape.

Takaichi, 64, rose to the premiership after her Liberal Democratic Party struck a pact with the Japan Innovation Party to replace the LDP’s longtime junior partner, which left the coalition earlier this month. The new alliance gives the government 231 seats in the lower house, two short of a majority, leaving Takaichi’s administration dependent on additional support from other parties to pass legislation and the budget.

Her initial cabinet choices signal policy continuity on economic stimulus and a focus on security. Satsuki Katayama was named finance minister and has said the government will pursue a "responsible, expansionary fiscal policy," weighing sizeable measures to ease the impact of rising prices. Government sources said the administration is preparing a...