Updated at: 1416 PST, Wednesday, September 16, 2009
TOKYO: Japan's parliament has formally elected Yukio Hatoyama as the country's new prime minister after his party swept general elections last month.

Parliament convened in a special session on Wednesday to formally select the new prime minister after Taro Aso and his cabinet resigned earlier in the day.

Aso's Liberal Democratic Party suffered a heavy defeat in the August 30 elections to Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), ushering in a centre-left government after more than five decades of conservative rule.

In a landslide victory last month, the DPJ won 308 of the 480 seats to take control of the body's lower chamber, which selects the prime minister.

In Wednesday's vote, Hatoyama won 327 of the 480 votes in the lower house.

"I'm thrilled with the joy of creating history, and at the same time I feel the very grave responsibility for creating history," Hatoyama told reporters.

His first task would be to name a cabinet.