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Takaichi set to become Japan's first female prime minister

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Takaichi's election marks a shift to the right in Japan

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Equity markets optimistic about Takaichi's economic

policies

(Recasts with vote outcome)

By Mariko Katsumura and Tim Kelly

TOKYO, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Hardline conservative Sanae

Takaichi was set to become Japan's first female prime minister

on Tuesday after winning a critical vote in parliament's lower

house.

An acolyte of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and an

admirer of Britain's Margaret Thatcher, Takaichi received 237

votes in the lower house election to choose the next premier,

topping the majority of the 465-seat chamber. Her victory

shatters the glass ceiling in a country where men still hold

overwhelming sway and puts Japan, a close U.S. ally, on a

forceful shift to the right.

Her victory comes after her Liberal Democratic Party, which

has governed Japan for most of its postwar history, agreed to a

coalition deal with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party, known

as Ishin.

Takaichi will likely be approved by the less-powerful upper

house and sworn in as Japan's 104th prime minister on Tuesday

evening to succeed the incumbent Shigeru Ishiba, who last month

announced his resignation to take responsibility for election

losses.

But her elevation is unlikely to be feted as a sign of

progressive change, marking instead a turn to the right on

immigration and social issues. After years of deflation, Japan

is now grappling with rising prices, something that has sparked

public anger and fuelled support for oppositions groups

including the far-right Sanseito party.