Taro Aso elected president of Japan´s ruling LDP

Source: Xinhua | 09-22-2008 14:18

Taro Aso, one of the five candidates for Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)  presidential election, addresses a  campaign to exposit his political beliefs in downtown Tokyo, capital of Japan, Sept. 11, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

TOKYO, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Taro Aso, current secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), was elected LDP's party chief in its presidential election Monday.

Aso, who served as the foreign minister in Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet as well as in the subsequent Shinzo Abe's cabinet, won 351,or 66.6 percent of a total of 527 votes.

According to the LDP election rule, the candidate who secures the absolute majority of the votes wins the election.

At a special session of the Diet scheduled for Wednesday, Aso will automatically assume Japan's premiership, as the LDP commands dominance in the more powerful House of Representatives, which has the final say in picking Japan's new leader.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei