On August 29, an election to elect the new President of the DPJ following the resignation of Naoto Kan was held at a General Meeting of DPJ Diet members at a Tokyo venue. Five candidates, Seiji Maehara, Sumio Mabuchi, Banri Kaieda, Yoshihiko Noda and Michihiko Kano (candidate names in order of registration) stood for election. None of the candidates obtained the necessary majority of more than half of the eligible votes in the initial ballot and so a run-off was held between the top two candidates, Kaieda and Noda. Following the second ballot, Noda was declared the new DPJ President.

The results of the voting are as follows.

First round of voting
Out of 398 eligible voters, 395 Diet members cast their votes and there were 395 valid votes.

Seiji Maehara 　74
Sumio Mabuchi 　24
Banri Kaieda 　143
Yoshihiko Noda 102
Michihiko Kano 52

Second round of voting (run-off ballot)
Out of 398 eligible voters, 395 Diet members cast their votes and there were 392 valid and 3 invalid votes.

Yoshihiko Noda 215
Banri Kaieda 　177