A record number of women are running in Japan’s general election this month, although they still account for less than a quarter of candidates, local media said Wednesday.
New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is seeking to shore up his mandate in the October 27 vote by retaining a majority for the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Japan has never had a woman prime minister and Ishiba narrowly beat one of its few prominent female politicians, nationalist Sanae Takaichi, to the top job in a party leadership vote.
The 1,344 lower house candidates who kicked off their campaigns on Tuesday for all 465 seats include a record 314 women, Japanese media including the Yomiuri and Asahi dailies said.
The ratio of women candidates – around 23 percent – is also a record high, according to the Yomiuri.
Read here the full article published by the First Post on 16 October 2024.
Image by First Post
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