
In the battle for the party and government leadership, australian prime minister julia gillard on monday won a commanding victory over her rival and incumbent kevin rudd.
In a vote in the labor caucus in canberra parliament, the first woman to lead the australian government distanced her challenger by 71 votes to 31. Conservative opposition leader tony abbott called for new elections after the power tussle.
"The political drama is over. Now we are concentrating on 2013," said gillard (50). Then the elections will take place, in which the labor party had no chance of winning according to current polls. She’s down to 35 percent approval, 10 percentage points less than the opposition. Gillard leads a minority government and keeps her head above water in parliament only with the votes of greens and independents. "I think today was not so much a new start as a stay of execution," said abbott.