The brash, right-leaning Aso, 67, is widely considered the front-runner to replace struggling Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who announced on Monday he would step down amid sagging poll numbers and troubles with the split parliament.

"I have a very heavy mission," Aso told reporters in a speech broadcast in part by NHK TV. Aso's parliamentary office confirmed reports by NHK and Kyodo News agency that he announced his intention to run in the same speech.

Aso's candidacy for the Sept. 22 vote in the Liberal Democratic Party was widely expected. He declared just hours after Fukuda's resignation address that he was "qualified" to lead the nation.

The LDP election is expected to be followed on Sept. 24 with a vote in parliament for prime minister. The party's hold on the powerful lower house all but guarantees that the LDP president will then be elected premier.

Three other candidates tipped to also run for LDP president are Yuriko Koike, a former defense minister and TV anchorwoman; Economic Minister Kaoru Yosano; and Nobuteru Ishihara, the son of Tokyo's governor.

The vote will take place amid political and economic uncertainty in Japan.

The opposition, which took over the upper house of parliament in elections last year, has been pushing noisily for snap lower house elections, and speculation is high that the new prime minister will be forced to go along.

Citing unidentified sources, Kyodo reported that the new premier would dissolve parliament in October and call a general election for November in hopes of breaking the logjam in the legislature.

The Asahi, a major newspaper, said on Thursday that 56 percent of Japanese are in favor of dissolving parliament and holding general elections "as soon as possible," according to a telephone poll of 1,069 people.

None of the ruling party's candidates was expected to dramatically stray from the economic and diplomatic policies that Fukuda pursued, although Aso's nationalist stance could affect international relations.

Fukuda went out of his way to improve relations with China and his administration made progress in resolving a dispute over kidnapped citizens with North Korea.

Reviving the economy was expected to be a major initial goal, and Fukuda just announced a stimulus package that has yet to be implemented.

But opposition in parliament to ruling party legislation is high, and government business has been in a deadlock for more than a year because the leading opposition group, the Democratic Party of Japan, is blocking most bills and calling for nationwide elections to test the public mandate.

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