Shinzo Abe elected Japan PM, to announce cabinet

TOKYO, Sep 26 (Reuters) Shinzo Abe, an advocate of tighter ties with Washington and a bigger say for Japan in world affairs, was elected Japan's prime minister by parliament today, becoming at 52 the youngest Japanese leader since World War Two.

The hawkish Abe, a relative novice by Japanese political standards, faces the challenges of repairing ties with China -- frayed by predecessor Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine -- and keeping economic reforms on track while addressing voter concerns about widening social gaps.

Abe, elected president of the governing Liberal Democratic Party last week by a two-thirds majority, bowed to applause after being chosen prime minister by parliament's powerful lower house.

He will announce his cabinet later in the day.

A soft-spoken, popular lawmaker whose grandfather was also prime minister, Abe has pledged to rewrite Japan's pacifist constitution, boost Tokyo's role in global affairs, and revive respect for traditional values and pride in Japan's past.

He has also promised to nurture growth while pushing ahead with the economic reforms begun by Koizumi, and give precedence to spending cuts before tax rises in the struggle to rein in Japan's huge public debt, the biggest among advanced countries.

Koizumi -- one of Japan's most colourful and popular leaders -- smiled and waved after receiving a bouquet of flowers and applause in a ceremony at the prime minister's office, as the curtain fell on his sometimes tumultuous but rarely boring reign.

Koizumi, a media-savvy maverick known for snappy sound bites and cameo appearances with celebrities, stamped his mark on Japan's political scene after taking power in April 2001 with promises to pry his party loose from the grip of vested interests and lift government's heavy hand from the stalled economy.

NAMES FLOATED Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party -- which suffered a bashing in a September 2005 general election -- got 115 votes to Abe's 339 of the 476 votes cast in the 480 seat lower chamber.

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