Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe was elected the 21st president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday afternoon and will naturally succeed Junichiro Koizumi as Japan's next prime minister.

Abe sealed 464 votes among the total 703 ballots. The other two candidates, Foreign Minister Taro Aso and Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, got 136 and 102 votes respectively. The remaining ballot was an invalid one.

The 403 LDP lawmakers, each of whom has one ballot, began voting from 2 p.m. local time at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo. Another 300 votes, which were shared by the party's 1.06 million rank-and-file members and have been posted to the election committee from the party's 47 prefectural chapters, were counted into the final results.

On a gathering of LDP lawmakers after the results were announced, Abe promised to take over the flame of reform and vowed to devote himself in working with Japanese people toward "creating a new and beautiful nation."

He also pledged to continue the party's reform path.

Abe will get a three-year term as LDP president and naturally step onto the post of prime minister because the ruling bloc, made up of the LDP and its coalition partner New Komeito party, holds a majority in the lower house, which controls the final say in selecting the premier.

The newly-elected youngest LDP leader will also become Japan's first prime minister born after World War II.

The LDP leadership lineup is expected to be decided on Monday and Abe will announce his Cabinet on next Tuesday, the day for the parliaments to appoint him as Koizumi's successor in an extra Diet session.

In his policy platform announced during the campaign, Abe put replacing the current U.S.-drafted Constitution with Japan's own on the top, and called for strengthening the premier's decision-making powers on defense and foreign affairs.

While accentuating on a stronger Japan-U.S. alliance and describing it as "the most important thing" for Japan's diplomacy and national security, Abe pledged to try to improve relations with Asian neighbors as well.

He also included seeking permanent membership of the UN Security Council, drastically reforming the education system and building sustainable social security system on the gist of his policy platform.

Source: Xinhua