The defeat of Australia's outgoing prime minister John Howard appeared complete yesterday when his opponent claimed victory in the parliamentary seat he held for 33 years.
Howard's conservative government had already been tossed out by voters in elections last Saturday, but counting had continued for his own Sydney seat of Bennelong, which was too close to call.
With the tally of postal and other votes now almost complete, former TV journalist Maxine McKew claimed the seat for the centre-left Labor Party led by prime minister-elect Kevin Rudd.
"One week after the polls opened I can now say that in Bennelong we are 2,100 votes ahead, we have 51.25 per cent of the two-party vote, so we are comfortably ahead," McKew told reporters.
"I can formally say that Bennelong is now a Labor seat for the first time," she said.
HUMILIATION
Howard, who acknowledged he would likely lose the seat but has not formally conceded, now faces the humiliation of being remembered as the first sitting prime minister in 78 years to be ditched by his own parliamentary electorate.
He won the seat in 1974 and the following year was appointed to his first ministerial post at the age of 36.
Howard, 68, became prime minister in 1996 after leading his Liberal-National coalition to victory against the Labor Party.
McKew said she was not disappointed that he had not formally relinquished the seat, noting that "Mr Howard and his family clearly had a huge amount to do this week" as they cleared out of their official residences.
"I would like to acknowledge John Howard's long years of public service," she said. "He gave 30 years to public life and that should be acknowledged."
EXPECTED
McKew's win had already been factored into the Labor victory, with Rudd appointing her parliamentary secretary to the prime minister and cabinet when he announced his government line-up on Thursday.
Howard's Liberal Party had also moved on, electing former defence minister Brendan Nelson as new leader.
After nearly 12 years in power, Howard was the second-longest serving prime minister in Australia's history.
As his party picks over the bones of its resounding election defeat, several senior members have blamed him for trying to hang on to power for too long.
Howard had resisted pressure to step aside ahead of the election in favour of his long-serving and ambitious treasurer Peter Costello.
"I thought that it would have been helpful for the Liberal Party if we had been able to actually have a transition before the 2007 election," Costello told ABC.
Costello, who served as treasurer throughout Howard's four terms in office, said Australians had wanted a fresh face in the prime minister's office -- a desire played on by Labor during its campaign.
"I think we could have neutered that strategy if we had had an opportunity to have an orderly transition in 2007. We didn't, and the rest is history," he said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS