President Donald Trump congratulated Japan on Monday as it is expected to elect its first woman prime minister, Takaichi Sanae.
Trump congratulated Takaichi and Japan in a post on Truth Social.
“Japan has just elected its first female Prime Minister, a highly respected person of great wisdom and strength. This is tremendous news for the incredible people of Japan. Congratulations to all!” he wrote.
Takaichi became the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) this weekend, and it is essentially a certainty that she will prevail in the prime minister election expected later this month, given the LDP’s strength in the lower chamber of parliament, as Reuters noted:
Based on precedent, the more powerful lower house will first vote on its choice for prime minister, followed by the upper house. Lawmakers can nominate any candidates from the chamber, and historically the leaders of opposition parties have been put forward for the vote.
Any candidate who secures a simple majority in the first round wins approval. If no one secures a majority, a run-off poll follows, between the two candidates with the most votes.
If there is a disagreement between the houses, the choice of the lower house prevails. This happened in 2008 when the lower house chose the LDP candidate and the upper house picked an opposition candidate.
Takaichi is expected to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru, who announced his resignation in September, less than a year after assuming the post. Takaichi, who was a close ally of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with whom Trump had a close relationship, nearly beat Ishiba in a runoff election last year.
Takaichi will inherit Ishiba’s trade deal with the United States, in which Japan committed $550 billion to invest in the United States and agreed to a 15 percent duty on goods it imports into the United States.
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