By Sakura Murakami and John Geddie TOKYO (Reuters) -A leadership contest in Japan's ruling party to determine who will take over as prime minister headed to a run-off on Friday, putting a candidate seeking to become Japan's first female premier against a veteran making his fifth leadership bid.

Ishiba defeated economic security minister Sanae Takaichi in a runoff, after the two won the most votes in the first round in a crowded field of nine candidates.

Japan’s former defence minister, Shigeru Ishiba, has won the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) presidential election at his fifth and final attempt, defeating economic security minister Sanae Takaichi in a runoff vote.

At least that is the case for Ishiba Shigeru, a maverick from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He defeated eight colleagues to win his fifth bid for party leadership on September 27th. This means he will become Japan’s prime minister when he is sworn in next week.

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.