JAPAN’S parliament elected rightwinger Sanae Takaichi as the country’s first woman prime minister today.

This came a day after her struggling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) struck a coalition deal with a new partner expected to pull her governing bloc further to the right.

Ms Takaichi replaced Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political vacuum since the LDP’s disastrous election loss in July.

Mr Ishiba, who lasted only one year as prime minister, resigned with his Cabinet earlier in the day, paving the way for his successor.

Ms Takaichi won 237 votes — a wafer-thin majority of four — compared to 149 won by Yoshikoko Noda, head of the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, in the lower house, which elects the prime minister.

The LDP’s alliance with the Osaka-based Japan Innovation Party ensured her premiership because of a decided opposition.

Ms Takaichi’s alliance is still short of a majority in both houses of parliament and will need to court other opposition groups to pass any legislation — a risk that could make her government unstable and short-lived.

“Political stability is essential right now,” Ms Takaichi said at Monday’s signing ceremony with the JIP leader and Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura.

“Without stability, we cannot push measures for a strong economy or diplomacy.”

Their last-minute deal came after the Liberal Democrats lost its longtime partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito.

When Komeito left the governing coalition, it cited the LDP’s lax response to slush fund scandals that led to their consecutive election defeats.

Komeito also raised concern about Ms Takaichi’s support for revising Japan’s pacifist constitution — article 9 which renounces war and bans military forces — as well as her recent xenophobic remarks.

While she is the first woman to serve as Japan’s prime minister, she supports the imperial family’s male-only succession and opposes same-sex marriage and allowing separate surnames for married couples.