What happened

Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba beat eight candidates to become leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a party vote Thursday, putting him on track to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida next Tuesday.

Who said what

Ishiba edged out the more conservative Sanae Takaichi, one of the two women in the historic broad leadership race, 215 to 194 in the runoff vote by LDP legislators and rank-and-file members. The “elite power brokers” of the LDP “appeared” to take public sentiment into account” when choosing Ishiba, The New York Times said. Polls show he is “popular with the public because of his willingness to criticize his party and its elders,” The Washington Post said, “but he is largely disliked among his colleagues for the same reason.”

Making his fifth run for party leader, Ishiba pledged to revitalize rural areas to boost the world’s fourth-largest economy and “proposed an Asian version of the NATO military alliance and a more equal Japan-US security alliance,” The Associated Press said.

What next?