OKYO, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Junya Ogawa was elected new leader of Japan's main opposition force, the Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA), on Friday.

Photo: IC

Ogawa, former secretary general of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), won a simple majority vote by the party's 49 lower house lawmakers against Takeshi Shina, the CDPJ's former acting policy chief.

The new leader's term will run until the end of March next year.

Ogawa told media before the leadership election in Tokyo that he would strive to achieve unity within the party and gain more external support, as the newly created party suffered a heavy loss in the recent general election.

In Sunday's House of Representatives election, the CRA saw its seat count drastically reduced to 49, becoming now the smallest main opposition party in the postwar era, prompting its co-leaders Yoshihiko Noda and Tetsuo Saito, the former heads of the CDPJ and the Komeito party, respectively, to resign to take responsibility.

The CRA was formed in January by lower house members from the CDPJ and Komeito just weeks ahead of the snap general election, in which the ruling coalition won an over two-thirds majority in the powerful chamber.