Sanae Takaichi Elected Prime Minister of Japan; Keeps All Cabinet Appointees from Previous Term

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:37 JST, February 18, 2026

Sanae Takaichi was elected as the prime minister at a special Diet session Wednesday. She formed her second Cabinet that evening, reappointing all ministers from her first Cabinet after they resigned en masse at an extraordinary Cabinet meeting in the morning.

The government is eager to pass a budget for the next fiscal year, following delays in the deliberation process due to the dissolution of the House of Representatives for a general election.

At the plenary session of the Diet, prior to the vote to name a prime minister, Liberal Democratic Party member Eisuke Mori was elected as lower house speaker and Centrist Reform Alliance member Keiichi Ishii was elected as vice speaker.

After being chosen as prime minister by both houses, Takaichi confirmed with Japan Innovation Party leader and Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura that their parties will maintain their existing coalition government.

Given the short time since the formation of Takaichi’s first Cabinet in October, as well as her emphasis on policy continuity, she kept on all her previous ministers and did not bring in any from the JIP.

Following the Imperial investiture ceremony for the prime minister and the attestation ceremony for ministerial appointments at the Imperial Palace, Takaichi will attend her first Cabinet meeting of the new term in the evening.

The dissolution of the lower house at the start of the ordinary Diet session convened on Jan. 23 has significantly delayed deliberations on the government’s budget bill. Takaichi is expected to exert all efforts to get it passed quickly.

Building on her party’s historic landslide victory in the lower house election earlier this month, she is likely to commit to advancing “responsible and proactive finance policy” and resolve to see the Constitution revised.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters Wednesday morning, “We will respond earnestly to the Diet deliberations to get the budget bill passed as soon as possible.”

The special Diet session will run for 150 days until July 17. Four government policy speeches, including one by Takaichi, will be delivered on Friday.

Following questions from representatives of each party in both Diet chambers from Feb. 24-26, the lower house Budget Committee will begin substantive deliberations as early as Feb. 27.