Reprise for Rudd as Australia's Labour ditches Gillard
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Sydney - A three-year power struggle inside Australia's ruling party ended Wednesday with serial challenger Kevin Rudd finally ripping the Labor leadership off Julia Gillard.
Rudd was the only challenger in a secret ballot called by Gillard for the once-and-for-all showdown, and won it by 57-45 votes.
The nation's first female prime minister, who deposed Rudd before his first term as prime minister was finished in 2010, said she would not contest her seat at a parliamentary election scheduled for September 14.
Rudd warned colleagues that "we're on course for a catastrophic defeat unless there's change" and that his return could make Labor competitive against the conservatives under opposition Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott.
Opinion polling this week predicted a rout in September, with Labor set to lose half its 71 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives, including nine held by ministers.
Rudd inherits not only a deeply divided party but a minority government that might not have the numbers to stay in office.
Rudd, 55, might be obliged to test his support on the floor of the house because two independents that Gillard leaned on for support have said they might not work with him.
The government lacks an overall majority and survives with the support of five of the seven independent members.
If he is endorsed as prime minister, Rudd could bring forward the parliamentary election from September 14 to August 3, the earliest possible date, to capitalise on the honeymoon period that voters often accord a new party leader.
Opposition Liberal leader Tony Abbott, speaking before the outcome of the caucus ballot, demanded an election on August 3.
"What the Australian people want is their chance to choose the government and to choose the prime minister," he said. "The only way they'll get that is if there's an election."
