Dhaka, Oct. 21 -- Japan's parliament on Tuesday elected ultraconservative politician Sanae Takaichi as the nation's first female prime minister, a day after her struggling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) struck a coalition deal with a new right-leaning partner.

Takaichi succeeds Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political impasse following the LDP's crushing defeat in the July elections. Ishiba, who served only one year as prime minister, resigned earlier in the day along with his Cabinet to clear the way for his successor.

In the parliamentary vote, Takaichi secured 237 votes-four more than the required majority-defeating Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) leader Yoshiko Noda, who received 149 votes in the lower house. ...