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Nippon Finance Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, was today elected chairman of the ruling Democratic Party (PD) in Japan, making it the virtual prime minister of the Asian country.

Noda, who won a second round of voting to the Minister of Industry, Banri Kaieda, replaced as head of government to Naoto Kan, who on Friday announced a long-awaited resignation amid criticism over his handling of the crisis triggered by the earthquake March.

Minister of Finance, 54, won the support of 215 of the nearly 400 legislators PD voters, while Kaieda, which initially started as the favorite, managed 177 votes.

Both were passed in the first round to the other three candidates: former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, the owner of Agriculture, Michihiko Kano, and former Transport Minister Sumio Mabuchi.

After the vote, Noda, a staunch advocate of fiscal discipline, he admitted that after the disaster of March 11 at which the load faced by the Nippon policy is growing, but insisted he would work to resolve the crisis.

In this regard, called for unity in his party, increasingly fragmented and put aside infighting so that citizens do not repent of having given the victory to the PD in the historic election two years ago.

Those polls ended over half a century of power in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), now in opposition and fierce critic of the policies of PD.

Noda listed the serious problems currently facing the third world economy, including the nuclear crisis, the challenge of rebuilding after the earthquake of March, persistent deflation and continued strengthening of the yen, which hurts exporters, economic engine the country.

It is expected that the finance minister takes office tomorrow, Tuesday, when Kan dissolve the current cabinet.

Yoshihiko Noda will become the sixth prime minister in the last five years, in which the unstable government passed Nippon Shinzo Abe (2006-2007), Yasuo Fukuda (2007-2008), Taro Aso (2008-2009), Yukio Hatoyama (2009-2010) and Naoto Kan (2010-2011).