Rudd sweeps to power in Australia polls
John Howard (left), Kevin Rudd
Australia's centre-left opposition leader Kevin Rudd swept into power in a landslide election victory, ending conservative Prime Minister John Howard's 11-year rule.
Howard, US President George W. Bush's closest ally in the Iraq war, conceded defeat in Sydney, wishing Rudd well and telling him that he was inheriting an economy that is the envy of the world.
"A few minutes ago I telephoned Mr Rudd and I congratulated him and the Australian Labor Party on a very emphatic victory," Howard told emotional supporters in a gracious concession speech at a Sydney hotel.
"This is great democracy and I want to wish Mr Rudd well," said the veteran political survivor who also accepted he had probably also lost his electoral seat, becoming only the second prime minister in Australia's history to do so.
"He assumes the mantle of the 26th prime minister of Australia and I want to say that there is no prouder job a man can occupy than being the prime minister of Australia," Howard said.
Rudd accepted victory with a pledge to "write a new page in our nation's history."
"The future is too important for us not to work together to embrace the challenges of the future and carve out our nation's destiny," Rudd told supporters in the eastern city of Brisbane.
While officials were still tallying the votes, Howard, 68, accepted full responsibility for his Liberal-National coalition government's stunning defeat, but said he had left a proud legacy.
"I want to say on behalf of the coalition that has governed this country for the last 11 and a half years that we bequeath to him a nation that is stronger and prouder.
"I have reformed the Australian economy and left it the envy of the world," said the outgoing prime minister, who looked drawn and subdued as he stood flanked by his wife and children.
Howard, a wily political survivor known for getting himself out of political scraps over his 33-year career, acknowledged that he was "at the end of my political career."
He has won four general elections and has presided over Australia's booming economic growth since becoming prime minister when he ousted Labor in 1996.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's vote tally predicted that when the final vote was counted, Labor would win with 53 percent of the vote, compared to 47 for Howard's Liberal-National coalition.
That would give Labor 86 seats in the 150-seat lower house of representatives, well above the 76 it needs to take power, while the coalition would be left with just 62, sharply down from the 86 it won in 2004.
Independents are likely to win the remaining two lower house seats.
Official figures showed Labor with 53.3 percent of the vote compared to 46.7 for the government with 73 percent of votes counted.
The results give the 50-year-old incoming prime minister diplomat Rudd a commanding majority in parliament.
Howard's defence minister, Brendan Nelson, extolled his bosses legacy and praised his work for the country.
"The man has made an enormous contribution, along with his wife Janette and his whole family, to changing the shape of Australia," Nelson told Sky News.
The ABC showed Howard's seat in the Sydney area of Bennelong hanging on a knife edge, with former television newscaster Maxine McKew in range of victory.
If she does indeed win the seat Howard has held since 1974, he would be the first sitting prime minister to lose his parliamentary seat in 78 years.
Howard had campaigned on his party's record on the economy, which is booming on the back of China's demand for its mineral resources, warning that a Labor victory would threaten the country's prosperity.
But he faced strong opposition fuelled by unpopular policies such as the new labour laws, which critics said cut wages and working conditions, support for the Iraq war and a refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Rudd had pledged a swathe of changes in domestic and foreign policy, including tearing up the labour laws, ratifying Kyoto and withdrawing Australian combat troops from Iraq.
An exit poll earlier in the day said that 58 percent of voters thought Howard was out of touch and should step down -- even though 71 percent felt his government team was better equipped to manage the economy.
Fifty-one percent of those polled believed Howard's government had been in office too long, while 59 percent said they did not want Howard's heir-apparent, Treasurer Peter Costello, to become prime minister.
Howard had announced that if re-elected he would retire before the end of his three-year term and hand over power to Costello.
Some 64 percent felt Rudd and Labor had fresh ideas, while only 39 percent felt the relatively youthful Rudd and his team were too inexperienced for government -- a charge repeatedly made by Howard's camp.
Voters listed health and hospitals, the economy, industrial relations and climate change as their top four priorities.
Comments