One day after winning re-election in a sweeping victory as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said he is confident that his plan to form a new tripartite coalition with the Liberal Party and New Komeito has been endorsed by his party colleagues.

"I won the confidence of a majority of Diet members and nearly 70 percent of LDP (rank-and-file) members," Obuchi told a news conference at party headquarters. "I believe that it means I gained understanding about this policy (of forming the coalition)."

His two contenders in Tuesday's election, former LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato and former LDP policy chief Taku Yamasaki, slammed the unpopular coalition plan, a contentious issue during the race.

But Obuchi said he emphasized the necessity of the three-way coalition throughout his campaign, and added that he won votes from "an overwhelming majority" of LDP lawmakers.

"I recognize that this support is very strong," Obuchi said.

Later in the day, Obuchi paid a visit to New Komeito chief Takenori Kanzaki and Liberal Party head Ichiro Ozawa to reconfirm their plans to form the three-way alliance.

Obuchi reportedly sought Ozawa's cooperation for a smooth launch of the new coalition. "We shared the view that (to decide) what we are going to do by forming the (new) coalition is of the most importance," Ozawa told reporters after the talks, which he described as a courtesy visit to report on his victory in the party election.

Yoshiro Mori, LDP secretary general, accompanied Obuchi and quoted Ozawa as telling the prime minister that he has no intention of deliberately delaying the coalition's launch.

In his talks with Kanzaki, Obuchi reiterated his request for New Komeito to join the next Cabinet. Kanzaki said he repeated his party's readiness to do so once a policy agreement is reached.

Full-fledged talks are expected to begin Friday as secretaries general of the three parties begin discussing policy.

Obuchi's election victory was officially approved Wednesday during an extraordinary convention of party members at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo.

While underlining his determination to tackle pressing problems facing Japan, such as the still-shaky economy, Obuchi said he will work hard to secure an LDP victory in the next Lower House elections, which must be held no later than October 2000.

In a gesture of peace to his rival candidates, Obuchi indicated in the news conference that he would not discriminate against members of the Kato and Yamasaki factions in a planned reshuffling of the Cabinet and the party's executive lineups. He said he will ask for cooperation from the two to tackle difficulties now confronting the party.