Takaichi Sanae’s Path to the LDP Presidency

The Route to the Top

Takaichi Sanae was elected as the first female leader of the Liberal Democratic Party on October 4, 2025, defeating Koizumi Shinjirō by 185 votes to 156 in the runoff round of the party’s presidential election. She is now on the verge of becoming Japan’s first female prime minister in the Diet proceedings slated for later this month. The timeline below shows her route to the top.

April 1984  Graduates with a degree in business from Kobe University and joins the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management.

October 1986  Serves as a US congressional fellow as part of a Matsushita exchange program.

October 1989  Becomes a commercial television presenter for TV Asahi.

July 1993  Elected to the House of Representatives for the first time as an independent.

Takaichi Sanae has a badge affixed as she attends her first session at the House of Representatives on August 5, 1993. (© Jiji)

December 1994  Joins Shinshintō (the New Frontier Party).

December 1996  Moves to the Liberal Democratic Party.

November 2003  Loses her House of Representatives seat in the general election; went on to teach at what is now Kindai university during her time out of office.

September 2005  Regains her House of Representatives seat as one of Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichirō’s “assassins” chosen to support his policy of post office privatization.

September 2006  Joins the cabinet for the first time as minister of state for Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs under Prime Minister Abe Shinzō.

Takaichi Sanae (center left) with Prime Minister Abe Shinzō (center right) in 2006. (© Reuters)

August 15, 2007  Is the only cabinet member to visit Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of the end of World War II.

Takaichi Sanae at Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, 2007. (© Reuters)

December 2012  Becomes the first woman chosen as the chair of the LDP Policy Research Council following Abe Shinzō’s return to the premiership.

Major LDP figures from left: Chair of the General Council Noda Seiko, Vice President Kōmura Masahiko, President Abe Shinzō, Secretary General Ishiba Shigeru, Chair of the LDP Policy Research Council Takaichi Sanae, Chair of the Election Strategy Committee Kawamura Takeo. Photograph taken on December 25, 2012. (© Reuters)

September 2014  Joins the cabinet as minister for internal affairs and communications under Prime Minister Abe.

Takaichi Sanae (front row, right) is one of a record five women in Prime Minister Abe’s September 2014 cabinet as minister for internal affairs and communications. (© Reuters)

October 2018  Becomes chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Rules and Administration.

September 2019  Begins a second stint as minister for internal affairs and communications.

September 2021  Places third out of four candidates in her first LDP presidential election.

The 2021 presidential election candidates from left: Kōno Tarō, eventual winner Kishida Fumio, Takaichi Sanae, and Noda Seiko. (© Reuters)

October 2021  Begins her second stint as chair of the LDP Policy Research Council.

August 2022  Becomes state minister for economic security.

September 2024  Wins the first round of the 2024 LDP presidential election, but loses to Ishiba Shigeru in the runoff.

Lawmakers vote in the 2024 LDP presidential election runoff. (© Jiji)

October 2025  Wins her third LDP presidential election, defeating Koizumi Shinjirō in the runoff vote to become the first female leader of the party.

Takaichi Sanae (right) shakes hands with Koizumi Shinjirō after the 2025 LDP presidential contest on October 4, 2025. (© Reuters)

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: Takaichi Sanae becomes the first female president of the Liberal Democratic Party on October 4, 2025. © Reuters.)