Britain's opposition Labour Party elected young lawmaker Ed Miliband as its new leader Saturday after he narrowly defeated his older and better-known brother in a contest to replace former prime minister Gordon Brown.

Miliband, the 40-year-old ex-climate change secretary, squeezed out his elder brother David Miliband, the 45-year-old former foreign secretary, in a ballot of legislators, party activists and about 3.5 million labor union members.

Ed Miliband got 50.65 percent of votes, to his brother's 49.35 percent, in a final round of voting.

Three other candidates also competed in the contest to replace Brown, who stepped down in May after Labour came in second in a national election and was removed from office after 13 years by the Conservative Party-led coalition government.

In a victory speech, Miliband said the 2003 Iraq invasion had dented trust in the Labour Party, and pledged to restore the faith of the British public.

"Never in my wildest imagination did I ever believe that I would one day lead this party," he told activists at a rally in Manchester, northern England.

Miliband and his brother embraced as the result was announced, and the younger sibling offered an emotional tribute.

"David, I love you so much as a brother and I have such extraordinary respect for the campaign that you ran," he said. "You taught us the most important lesson, which is we can be a party which reaches out to the community and we can also be a serious party of government again."

Talking directly to his brother _ who appeared to struggle to contain his emotion _ the younger man said: "We all know how much you have to offer this country in the future."

"Today, a new generation has taken charge of Labour, a new generation that understands the call of change," Miliband said following the announcement.