The Liberal Democratic Party elected former Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki as its president Monday, giving him the task of guiding back into power a party still stinging from its recent electoral thrashing.
Tanigaki received 300 of the 498 votes cast, while former Vice Justice Minister Taro Kono received 144, and Yasutoshi Nishimura, a relative newcomer who just won his third term, got 54.
Following its birth in 1955, the LDP enjoyed nearly unbroken rule until its crushing defeat in the Aug. 30 Lower House general election.