Ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi on Track to Become Japan’s First Female PM

TOKYO: Sanae Takaichi is on track to become Japan’s first female prime minister, after her governing party secured a crucial coalition partner. Takaichi, 64, is set to replace Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Tuesday's parliamentary vote. If she’s successful, it would end Japan’s three-month political vacuum and wrangling since the coalition’s loss in the July parliamentary election . The moderate centrist Komeito party had split from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party after a 26-year-long coalition. It came just days after Takaichi's election as LDP leader, and forced her into a desperate search for a new coalition partner to secure votes…