Howard wins election

2004-10-09 15:36

Sydney - The conservative government of Australian Prime Minister John Howard won a fourth straight term in office on Saturday as Australia's booming economy overshadowed criticism of his staunch support for the United States-led war in Iraq.

Senior officials of the opposition Labour Party conceded that Howard's Liberal-National coalition had retained control of the 150-member House of Representatives in Saturday's vote.

Although officials results were still pending, computer projections showed Howard's coalition winning up to 85 seats in the house, which would be a three-seat increase from the outgoing parliament.

"The election is over, gone, finished," said Kim Beazely, Labour's shadow defence minister.

Labour had vowed to withdraw troops

Labor's 43-year-old leader, Mark Latham, had vowed to withdraw the 900 Australian troops stationed in and around Iraq following the US-led invasion of the country by Christmas if he won the election.

But the issue of Iraq was overtaken by domestic concerns during the election campaign and Howard wooed voters by arguing that a Latham government would undermine the nearly nine years of continuous prosperity Australians have enjoyed under his leadership.

The result will be good news for US President George W Bush, who also faces a tough fight for re-election next month against Senator John Kerry, like Latham a strident critic of the US Iraq policy.

But Australia's six-week election campaign largely ignored Iraq to focus on bread-and-butter domestic issues like education, health care and interest rates - a key worry for millions of homeowners.

Howard, at 65 a vastly experienced and wily politician who has overseen the most robust growth in Australia's economy in a generation, overcame voter weariness with his taciturn style by painting the fiery, younger Latham as a risk to prosperity.

Howard hammered away at voter concerns that Latham, who has never been a government minister, did not have the experience needed to manage the economy and would undermine economic growth and lead to higher interest rates.

Economy was deciding issues

"Don't risk your prosperity with a Labour/Green experiment," Howard told voters at one polling station on Saturday, referring to the left-leaning Greens who have allied themselves with Labour for the election.

Labour leaders conceded the economy had been their downfall.

"I think you might be able to conclude that the economy (was the deciding issue), that people went into the polling booths and decided it might be a risk under Labour so they gave John Howard another three years," said Wayne Swan, a Labour legislator.

Howard also had the weight of history behind him as Australians have thrown out incumbents only four times in the past 50 years.

- AFP