NEWS: PM John Howard Declared Winner in Australian Elections

Polls are closed in the elections for Australia's new prime minister and it seems that Prime Minister John Howard has taken the lead over opponent Mark Latham of the Labor Party, who campaigned on bringing home troops from Iraq. But the war in Iraq was not the main issue of concern for Australians, who contributed 2000 soldiers to the Coalition. Voters were more concerned with Healthcare, Education and the Economy of the country. The official results are not in as of yet, but again it looks likes PM Howard will claim victory.



While many may look to the Australian elections as a precursor for what may happen in future elections around the world, namely the USA and Britain, the discontent of Australians regarding the country's involvement in Iraq didn't not play a significant role at all. In Australia, voting is mandatory for all its citizens, who face a fine if they fail to show up at the polls.

Title has been updated

[edit on 10-9-2004 by worldwatcher]

MSNBC is declaring Howard the winner... (10am eastern time US)

BBC News declares Howard the winner too.

Can anyone who lives down under comment on what they know about John Kerry's sister campaigning against John Howard in this election?
If this is true it must be indicative that Kerry was trying to kill the "coalition of the willing" in order to make Iraq an even worse mess for his political gain... Comments?

[edit on 9-10-2004 by intelgurl]

All i saw in the paper was that she made a visit to a friend in a Labor seat and commented on how she thinks John Howard took us all for a ride when he proclaimed we were off to Iraq. (our reason for going to Iraq was WMD's and WMD's only, Howard was wrong, but doesn't seem to care anymore) It was not really a big deal here, she basicly commented on her beliefs when confronted by reporters

Originally posted by intelgurl
Can anyone who lives down under comment on what they know about John Kerry's sister campaigning against John Howard in this election?
If this is true it must be indicative that Kerry was trying to kill the "coalition of the willing" in order to make Iraq an even worse mess for his political gain... Comments?

[edit on 9-10-2004 by intelgurl]

She doesn't hold any weight here at all, if anything Australians would resent her butting her nose in.

In all seriousness , her visit didnt rate a mention in the papers here in Melbourne. I learned she was here by reading ATSNN.

Who says the net is a waste of time?

Originally posted by intelgurl
Can anyone who lives down under comment on what they know about John Kerry's sister campaigning against John Howard in this election?
If this is true it must be indicative that Kerry was trying to kill the "coalition of the willing"

Intelgurl, I haven't heard about Kerry' sister campaigning against John Howard.
But I believe the "coalition of the willing" is becoming the "coalition of b/s artists"

I believe Howard won (by a large margin) because the 20 to 40year demographic are more
concerned about the Oz economy. Mainly mortgage interest rates.

As for the price of petrol, i feel that Aussies are resigned to the fact that they will have to pay
on average aus$1.00 per litre, or $4.40 per gallon.

Sanc'.

congrads howard.

good to see that the country is in safe economic hands.

Howard is a very intelligent man and a great PM. Keep it up

Originally posted by intelgurl
Can anyone who lives down under comment on what they know about John Kerry's sister campaigning against John Howard in this election?

It didn't even make news over here, so she can hardly have been campaigning against John Howard. I'm with mulberryblueshimmer, I only heard she was even in Aus from ATS, and I concur with mad scientist, if she did try to campaign for labour it would have only hurt them more if anything.

Fun side note: always nice to see the election results before polling has even closed over here in WA, damn time zones.

This result is important for other countries too. Those that seek to make political capital from the difficult decision to support the removal of Saddam do so at their peril!