Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) have broadly agreed to form a coalition government, setting the stage for the country’s first female prime minister, Kyodo news agency reported yesterday.
LDP President Sanae Takaichi and JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura are set to sign an agreement sealing their alliance today, Kyodo said.
Calls to the LDP and Ishin headquarters to seek comment went unanswered outside business hours.
Photo: Reuters
JIP coleader Fumitake Fujita on Friday raised expectations for a deal, saying the two parties had made “big progress” in coalition talks.
JIP lawmakers are to vote for Takaichi in an election to choose the prime minister in parliament tomorrow, but the party does not plan to send ministers to Takaichi’s Cabinet, at least initially, Kyodo said.
That would fall short of the full-fledged alliance the LDP maintained with the Komeito party until the junior partner quit the coalition this month, raising concern over the stability of the forthcoming government.
Takaichi’s path to succeed outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had seemed all but certain after she won the presidency of the long-ruling LDP early this month. However, Komeito quit their 26-year coalition, setting off a flurry of negotiations with rival parties to select the next prime minister.
To get the JIP on board, the LDP offered to keep working toward banning donations from companies and other organizations, and exempting food items from Japan’s sales tax, Kyodo said.
The JIP has proposed eliminating the tax on food items for two years.
Takaichi, a fiscal dove, has called for higher spending and tax cuts to cushion consumers from rising inflation and has criticized the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise interest rates.
She favors revising Japan’s pacifist post-World War II constitution to recognize the role of its expanding military.
Takaichi is a regular visitor to the Yasukuni Shrine honoring Japan’s war dead — including 30,304 Taiwanese soldiers — and is viewed by some Asian neighbors as a symbol of the nation’s past militarism.
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