Japan’s LDP, Ishin agree to form coalition government

Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party have broadly agreed to form a coalition government, setting the stage for the country’s first female prime minister, Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday.

Sanae Takaichi, leader of the conservative LDP, and Hirofumi Yoshimura, head of the smaller right-leaning group known as Ishin, are set to sign an agreement sealing their alliance on Monday, Kyodo said.

Calls to the LDP and Ishin headquarters to seek comment went unanswered outside business hours.

Alliance may be shakier than previous coalition

Ishin’s co-head, Fumitake Fujita, raised expectations for a deal on Friday, saying the two parties had made “big progress” in coalition talks.

Ishin lawmakers will vote for Takaichi in an election to choose the prime minister in parliament on Tuesday, 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 Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had seemed all but certain after she won the presidency of the long-ruling LDP early this month. But then Komeito quit their 26-year coalition, setting off a flurry of negotiations with rival parties to select the next premier.

In an effort to get Ishin on board, the LDP offered to keep working towards banning donations from companies and other organisations and exempting food items from Japan’s sales tax, Kyodo said.

Ishin 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 criticised the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise interest rates.

She favours revising Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution to recognise the role of its expanding military.

Takaichi is a regular visitor to the Yasukuni shrine honouring Japan’s war dead - including some executed war criminals - and is viewed by some Asian neighbours as a symbol of the nation’s past militarism.