TOKYO — Taro Aso, an outspoken conservative who campaigned with promises to stimulate Japan’s flagging economy, was chosen Monday by the governing Liberal Democratic Party to become the next prime minister.
Mr. Aso, a former foreign minister, easily won two-thirds of the vote for the presidency of the party, beating four other candidates, including the first woman to seek the job. The party’s control of the lower house of Parliament virtually ensures that he will replace Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in a parliamentary session on Wednesday.
The party is counting on Mr. Aso, 68, to lead it out of its worst crisis in a half-century of rule, after two prime ministers stepped down in a year amid dismal approval ratings.
In a race that was his to lose, Mr. Aso (pronounced ah-so) focused on bread-and-butter economic issues, promising tax cuts aimed at increasing corporate and individual spending.
A self-proclaimed hawk who has sometimes angered Asian neighbors, Mr. Aso is widely seen here as a pragmatist who shuns a rigidly right-wing agenda. The scion of a wealthy industrialist family, he is also a fan of Japan’s manga cartoons and has regularly topped national surveys for prime minister.
The question is whether Mr. Aso can woo back Japan’s disillusioned voters ahead of a crucial national election expected as soon as November. The Liberal Democrats are counting on Mr. Aso to restore public support to a party staggering from his predecessors’ resignations, a newly powerful opposition, and a slumping economy.
In a brief acceptance speech, Mr. Aso spoke in grave tones of leading the party and Japan as a personal “mission,” reflecting his longstanding ambition to gain his nation’s highest office. He vowed to focus on winning the election and keeping the Liberal Democrats in power.
He will take office at a time when Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, after the United States, has played a minor role in the response to Wall Street’s turmoil.
Mr. Aso has said that Japan, which has so far been relatively unscathed by the unfolding financial crisis, needed to stimulate its economy to pick up some of the slack in the global economy.
“America could face a financial crisis that rivals the Great Depression,” Mr. Aso said in a speech on Saturday. “Japan has to take action by improving its economy in order to revive domestic demand.”
Political analysts say elections for the lower house, which could be set for October, will offer an immediate test to Mr. Aso’s ability to galvanize the splintered Liberal Democrats and find a message that resonates with Japan’s disillusioned electorate.