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TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Japan’s parliament is set to elect ultraconservative\u00a0Sanae Takaichi<\/a>\u00a0as the country\u2019s first female prime minister Tuesday, one day after her struggling party struck a coalition deal with a new partner that would pull her governing bloc further to the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Takaichi will replace Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political vacuum and wrangling since the Liberal Democratic Party’s disastrous election loss in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ishiba, who lasted only one year in office, resigned with his Cabinet earlier Tuesday, paving the way for his successor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The LDP’s off-the-cuff alliance with the Osaka-based rightwing Japan Innovation Party, or Ishin no Kai, ensures her premiership in a vote later in the day because the opposition is not united. Takaichi’s untested alliance is still short of a majority in both houses of parliament and they need to court other opposition groups to pass any legislation \u2013 a risk that could make her government unstable and short-lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPolitical stability is essential right now,” Takaichi said at Monday’s signing ceremony with the JIP leader and Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura. \u201cWithout stability, we cannot push measures for a strong economy or diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two parties signed a coalition agreement on policies underscoring Takaichi\u2019s hawkish and nationalistic views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their last-minute deal Monday comes 10 days after the Liberal Democrats lost its longtime partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito<\/a>, which has a more dovish and centrist stance. The breakup threatened a change of power for the LDP, which has governed Japan almost uninterrupted for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once she is elected prime minister, Takaichi, 64, will present a Cabinet with a number of allies of LDP’s most powerful kingmaker, Taro Aso, and others who backed her in the party leadership vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JIP will not hold ministerial posts in Takaichi’s Cabinet until his party is confident about its partnership with the LDP, Yoshimura said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n