Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) elected Sanae Takaichi as its new leader on Saturday (October 4), putting her on course to emulate her hero, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, to become the country’s first woman premier.

The conservative Takaichi, 64, came out on top in an internal party vote, beating the centrist Shinjiro Koizumi in a runoff election at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo. The lower house of Japan’s parliament, known as the Diet, is expected to choose her as prime minister in a leadership vote in mid-October.

Takaichi is set to replace incumbent Shigeru Ishiba less than a year after the latter entered office last year. Ishiba had announced his intent to resign last month , amid mounting pressure from within the LDP, which has lost its majority

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