"We face difficult decisions both at home and abroad," Mr. Noda told party members after the internal ballot at a Tokyo hotel, which pitted him against three opponents.
A presidential election is due in March.Another new faceIn Japan Yoshihiko Noda, the finance minister, won an internal ballot within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan to become the country's next prime minister, the sixth new one in five years.
Laurent Wauquiez, a former Europe minister under Nicolas Sarkozy and currently president of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region, was chosen in an internal ballot of party members on Sunday.
The agreement is subject to approval in an internal members' ballot, with the result due on 15 June.
Mr. Noda outmaneuvered more prominent rivals in an internal party ballot on Monday, making him leader of the Democratic Party, which has been plagued by internal feuding.
Labour's detractors, both inside and out, wanted this conference to be defined by internal warfare – but thresholds, trigger ballots and party splits got no mention.
Although there has been a relative spell of calm in Conservative ranks in recent weeks, a disastrous performance at the ballot box could revive internal criticism of David Cameron's leadership.
Ballot papers have been issued to lapsed members for recent National Executive Committee Elections when the rules state that those more than six months in arrears cannot vote in internal elections.
Both of these campaigns — along with the Ickes/Penn-led effort in 1996 — had plenty of internal discord and plenty of success at the ballot box in November.
In an internal email to all staff after the union ballot results today, Lucy Adams, director of people at the BBC, said management was "very pleased that the offer was accepted by the majority of union members".
