Ichiro Ozawa was in effect named Tuesday to a second term as the Democratic Party of Japan president after no other candidates came forward to challenge him for the post.

The DPJ election campaign officially kicked off Tuesday afternoon, but with Ozawa as the only candidate, he won the top spot without a vote.

"I believe that the general public has great expectations for the DPJ," Ozawa told reporters in the morning. But "with unified cooperation, I believe (the DPJ) can get more and more support."