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Exit poll says Howard loses Aussie election |
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Written by News Editor
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Saturday, 24 November 2007 |
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Polls in Australia's most populous eastern states have closed with conservative Prime Minister John Howard hoping a late surge in voter support would help save him from defeat after 11 years in power.
The first exit poll, however, predicted a landslide win for opposition Labor, with voters ousting the 11-year-old conservative government and possibly dumping Howard from his own seat.
A Sky television exit poll of 31 marginal government seats forecast a 30-seat gain for the Labor leader Kevin Rudd. Labor needs to win an extra 16 seats to take office.
The exit poll of 2,787 voters by Auspoll gave Labor 53 percent of the vote and the ruling Liberal party 47 percent.
"It's very likely that Labor has won this election. Something in the order of 30-odd seats," said Auspoll's John Armitage.
Voting in Victoria and New South Wales, the nation's most populous states, ended at 6 p.m. (07:00 GMT) Saturday. The last polling stations will close in Western Australia at 0900 GMT.
Howard, 68, has trailed in opinion polls all year with some forecasting a landslide victory for Labor, but surveys in the final days of the campaign said the contest was neck-and-neck.
Auspoll said a sample of 950 voters in Howard's marginal
Sydney electorate showed the veteran politician, who has held his seat since entering parliament in 1974, had been dumped.
If Howard has lost Bennelong, he will be the first prime minister to lose his own seat in an election for 78 years.
Howard is a staunch U.S. ally and if re-elected has committed to keeping Australian troops in Iraq. He has offered voters A$34 billion (US$29 billion) in tax cuts, but few new policies.
Rudd has pledged to withdraw combat troops from Iraq and sign the Kyoto Protocol, further isolating Washington on both.
The Mandarin-speaking former diplomat would also be expected to forge closer ties with China and other Asian nations. |
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