Shigeru Ishiba was elected as the new prime minister of Japan on Friday. The country’s governing political party, the Liberal Democratic Party, voted for the former minister of defense to lead the country. Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party has primarily been the country’s ruling party since the end of World War II.

Stocks in Japan fell sharply on Monday after the country’s governing party chose a leader some view as hawkish on interest rates, underlining how central bank decisions continue to set the course of the world’s fourth-largest economy after decades of easy money policy.

Japan finds out its next leader on Friday when the ruling party of outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida picks his replacement in a key vote that could affect the country’s political stability in coming months.

Shigeru Ishiba, a former defense minister known for his plainspoken opinions, will replace Fumio Kishida next week.

TOKYO (AP) — The governing party of outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida holds a key vote Friday that will establish a new national leader.

The newly elected leader of Japan's ruling political party has selected his cabinet as the incoming prime minister.

In electing a new prime minister, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic party could have opted for generational change in the form of 43-year-old Shinjiro Koizumi. It could have chosen a return to the nationalistic conservatism of former leader Shinzo Abe — and with it a first female prime minister — in the shape of Sanae Takaichi.