TOKYO: Taro Aso yesterday won the leadership race of Japan's struggling ruling party quite easily to virtually ensure being elected the country's prime minister tomorrow.

A former foreign minister and grandson of a prominent former prime minister, Aso got 351 of the 525 votes cast in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) polls.

Aso, 68, is almost certain to be elected prime minister in the LDP-dominated parliament tomorrow, making him the third Japanese top leader since September 2006 and the first Roman Catholic to hold the job.