Japan's Diet announced Wednesday that Taro Aso, chief of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), was elected as the nation's 92th prime minister.

Yohei Kono, speaker of the House of Representatives, made the announcement on behalf of the Diet after a joint panel, consisting of 20 members with 10 from either chamber, failed to reach a consensus on the nomination of the new prime minister.

In the voting of the two-chamber parliament held earlier in the day, the lower House of Representatives picked Taro Aso, while the upper House of Councillors chose Ichiro Ozawa, as the new premier.

As the two chambers produced different outcomes and the joint panel was not able to come to an agreement, the lower house's decision prevailed and became the final resolution of the Diet as stipulated by the Constitution.

Aso, who served as the foreign minister in Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet as well as in the subsequent Shinzo Abe's cabinet, won the LDP presidential election by a landslide at his fourth attempt Monday and became the party chief.

Born into a family of an elite political lineage on the southern island of Kyushu, the 68-year-old veteran politician was first elected to the lower house in 1979 and has served twice as secretary general, the No. 2 post, of the ruling LDP.

The lineup of Aso's cabinet is expected to come out later in the day.

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2008)