The House of Councillors on Wednesday elected Ichiro Ozawa, chief of Democratic Party of Japan(DPJ) newly reelected for a third term, as Japan's prime minister.

Ozawa, who failed to obtain the majority of 121 votes required to be elected in the voting, won 125 out of a total of 240 valid ballots in the second round of polling at the 242-seat upper house.

Earlier in the day, the House of Representatives picked Taro Aso, chief of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), as the nation's head of government.

As the two chambers produced different outcomes, a joint panel of both chambers was asked to negotiate a solution and its efforts are doomed to failure. Under such circumstances, the election outcome in the lower house will be the final decision of the Diet as specified by the Constitution.

Aso was thus virtually elected the nation's 92th prime minister.

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2008)