Well done, Australia!
Australia's opposition Labour Party under Kevin Rudd has won a sweeping general election victory, removing PM John Howard (a Bush ally) after an 11-year term.Rudd has promised to withdraw Australia's 1.575 troops from Iraq starting in mid-2008 and vowed to start work this very week on ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and strengthening workers' rights.
Profile of the 2007 federal election:
- More than 13,5 million of Australia's roughly 21 million people had registered to vote.
- Electors were to choose candidates for all 150 seats in the lower House of Representatives and 40 of the 76 seats in the upper house, the Senate.
- PM John Howard had led the conservative Liberal-National party coalition to four election wins since 1996.
- Kevin Rudd was taking the centre-left Labor Party to the polls for the first time as leader.
- Election issues were the economy, environment and war in Iraq.
Labels: Politics
