Japan’s governing party on Saturday elected former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi as its new leader, making her likely to become the country’s first female prime minister. Takaichi beat Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, in a runoff in an intraparty vote by the Liberal Democratic Party. In the first round of voting, former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi finished first with 183 votes and Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi placed second with 164 votes. Two others, Trade Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Economic Minister Takayuki Kobayashi, were seen as less likely contenders. Takaichi, a hardline ultra-conservative, would potentially be Japan’s first female prime minister while Koizumi would be the youngest prime minister in more than a century.