TOKYO, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Fumio Kishida, the new leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), took office as prime minister on Monday, aiming to promote economic recovery while keeping COVID-19 infections under control.

The 64-year-old received 311 of 458 votes in the lower house and 141 of 241 votes in the House of Councillors.

Kishida, a moderate who served as the country's foreign minister from 2012 to 2017, has also worked as the policy chief of the ruling LDP.

Kishida won the presidential election of the ruling LDP over his contender vaccination minister Taro Kono on Sept. 29, securing 257 votes over Kono's 170 votes in a runoff.

In announcing his candidacy, the politician who heads a liberal-leaning intraparty group has promised to increase middle-class incomes and reduce wealth disparity under his "new form of capitalism", which is viewed as a break from the "neoliberal policies" that the Japanese government has pursued over the past two decades.

He also vowed to support economically vulnerable people such as non-regular workers and families with small children.

Kishida was elected in 1993 to the lower house from a constituency in Hiroshima Prefecture and is a ninth-term member of the House of Representatives.

Under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Kishida has served as foreign minister for four years and eight months before he was installed as chairman of the LDP's Policy Research Council for three years.

The third-generation politician was considered as a potential successor to Abe but lost to Suga in the LDP presidential race in 2020. Enditem

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