The previous record was 229 in the 2009 general election.
Female leaders are still rare in business and politics in Japan, which is ranked 118 out of 146 in the 2024 World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report.
Ishiba’s 20-strong cabinet includes just two women.
But the government has set a goal for 35 per cent of the candidates for parliament’s powerful lower house to be women by 2025, up from 18 per cent in 2017.
In Japan, “political parties are male-oriented and not open-minded, so it’s difficult to find female candidates”, Momoko Nojo, head of the organisation No Youth No Japan, told AFP ahead of September’s LDP leadership vote.
“Many women also take on care work at home, which makes it difficult for them to be a politician and take care of their family,” added Nojo, who also runs a project to encourage and support women and minorities to become politicians.
A United Nations committee for gender equality is currently reviewing women’s rights in Japan.
It is expected to make recommendations to the Japanese government – for the first time in eight years – after a meeting in Geneva on Thursday.
