Mr Aso, who turned 68 last Saturday, took two-thirds of the 527 votes at stake, beating his nearest rival, economic and fiscal policy chief Kaoru Yosano, by a wide margin.

Tomorrow, Mr Aso is expected to be formally elected prime minister by Parliament, where the LDP dominates the politically more-powerful Lower House.

If the Upper House chooses someone else for premier, as is likely since it is controlled by the opposition, the Lower House's choice prevails.

Mr Aso replaces the unpopular Yasuo Fukuda who suddenly announced his intention to quit earlier this month after barely one year in office.

In his acceptance remarks to the party following his election, Mr Aso, dressed in a dark grey suit and a light blue necktie, underlined his resolve to win the next general election, which may be held as early as next month but no later than September next year.

Revealing that he had always felt he was destined for the top job, Mr Aso said it was his 'fate' to become LDP president.

'I think I will only be able to fulfil heaven's will by winning (the general election),' he added.

'We must win this election, and proudly revive this country, achieve reforms and make a further step forward.'

Acknowledging Mr Aso's victory, the secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, Mr Yukio Hatoyama, said the new LDP leader was a 'formidable rival'.

Late yesterday, Mr Aso conducted his first press conference as party leader with great aplomb, deftly fielding questions on a range of domestic issues, from the much maligned medical insurance scheme for the elderly to the question of raising the sales tax to fund social security programmes.

He repeated that he was against hiking the sales tax until the economy has improved to some extent.

He has said that he would give top priority to enacting a supplementary budget to implement stimulus measures to boost the economy.

Mr Aso made his first bid to become party leader in 2001 but did very poorly.

On his third attempt last year, his popularity suddenly surged, especially among young Japanese apparently due to his love of manga.

He claims he devours 10 to 15 such magazines a week.

Yesterday, he credited his stunning win this time to the fact that he swept 95 per cent of the 141 votes held by local LDP party chapters.

During the past year, he had spent 10 months travelling all over Japan, making speeches once every two days on average and stumping for local politicians.

'I keenly felt the depressed economy and heard much about the anxieties of people over growing old and over the economy, and their unhappiness with the government for being unable to relieve those anxieties,' he said.

'I have been given a mission to tackle those problems,' he added.

Japanese reporters did not ask Mr Aso about his views on relations with Japan's largest neighbours, but his election was watched with close interest abroad.

The Korean media reported Mr Aso's election yesterday with some trepidation, noting that the hawkish politician had once said that Koreans voluntarily adopted Japanese names during Japan's colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula, a remark that had riled the Seoul government.

The two nations are also currently locked in a dispute over the small Takeshima islands, known to the Koreans as Dokdo.

But in Beijing, Chinese President Hu Jintao indicated his government's desire to continue to strengthen relations with Japan regardless of who was in charge in Tokyo.

Mr Hu reportedly told a visiting Japanese business delegation on Sunday: 'No matter what political changes there are in Japan, the two countries should appropriately handle sensitive issues and develop their relations based on mutual strategic interests.'

A fluent English speaker, Mr Aso is the scion of a powerful family in Fukuoka, southern Japan, which owns a wide range of businesses including cement factories, hospitals and schools.

His maternal grandfather was post-war premier Shigeru Yoshida, and he is also the great-great grandson of Toshimichi Okubo, a luminary of the Meiji Restoration who is often regarded as one of the founders of modern Japan.

A younger sister is married to a member of Japan's royal family.

wengkin@sph.com.sg

ON A MISSION TO SUCCEED

'I think I will only be able to fulfil heaven's will by winning (the general election).'
Mr Aso, in his acceptance remarks to the party following his election