Rudd ahead of Howard but Australian election is close

[Swagman]

Source: Daily Telegraph

Rudd ahead of Howard but Australian election is close
November 23, 2007 12:00am

KEVIN Rudd's Labor Party enters tomorrow's federal election with a four-point lead over John Howard's Coalition, the latest polls by Galaxy and Newspoll have found.

The findings in the opinion polls on the eve of the election show Mr Howard has made up ground in the final week and has a chance of retaining Government.

But Mr Rudd, seeking to end Labor's 11 years in the political wilderness, remains ahead and if he can retain his lead during tomorrow's voting, will become the next Prime Minister.

The Galaxy Research poll for The Daily Telegraph found Labor is narrowly ahead after the allocation of preferences, 52 per cent to the Coalition's 48 per cent.


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22809129-5001021,00.html

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The Hour of Reckoning ( tomorrow)is near for the crimes of John Howard:

# claimed promises given in his first election victory in 1996 were "non-core promises" (ie : lies)

# claimed legal refugess fleeing in leaking boats from Iraq and Afganistan had "thrown their children overboard" and "harboured terrorists amongst them"

# had knowledge that the Australian Federal Police were actively involved in refugee smuggling in Indonesia where police forced hundreds of desperate refugees onto the boat known as SIEV X, which floundered in Australian waters. Over 200 men, women and children drowned while the Australian navy were ordered to take no action.

# knew, while denying, that Australian military members were secretly being trained in Dubai to replace wharf workers.

# Denied, along with every cabinet minister, knowledge that the Australian Wheat Board had channelled over $200M to Saddam Hussein via a Jordon trucking company after declaring war on Iraq.

# Repeatedly telephoned a wavering George Bush and bolstered the case for invading Iraq, whilst lying to the Australian public that he hadn't decided to join the invasion.

# Wound back 100 years of union obtained worker's benefits.

[tuvor]

1. Good luck to the Labor Party.

A loss for Howard cannot be a good thing for Stephen Harper.

[rooboy]

2. if this election is even close then it's been rigged.

Howard is going to be obliterated and even his party's internal polling has shown that.

[bluestateguy]

3. Mandatory voting and a national holiday in Australia

So turnout shouldn't be a concern.

I wish we had similar laws in the US.

[rooboy]

4. It's not a national holiday, but it's always held on a Saturday.

The big thing about mandatory voting is that it is a great preventer of fraud. The electoral commission already knows how many voters need to be catered for, so there are no funny games with voting machines and long queues (not that we have any - it's all pencil and paper). I've never waited more than 5 minutes to cast a vote ever.

I like our system very much, and we'll almost certainly know the outcome before our heads hit the pillow in about 24 hours' time.

[Matilda]

6. We might not know tomorrow night.

If it is extremely close, and Labor just gets over the line in any seats,
you can bet the Coalition will call for a recount. They won't be giving
in gracefully.

Then there are the 13 seats where they maintain the Labor candidates
didn't register in time. It's probably garbage, but if they can get any
traction out of their charges in the event they lose, they'll go for it.

And if Labor just wins 14 seats and no more, it will be a hung
parliament. That will be interesting.

[depakid]

15. That would suggest a coalition with the Greens

would it not?

[anakie]

16. no, it doesn't

Our voting system is a tad different to first past the post. The Greens will not win any seat in the lower house, and they hope to have the balance of power in the Senate. Meaning that if Labor get up in the lower house and Rudd becomes PM he will need Greens support in the Senate to pass legislation. There will not be a coalition.

KEVIN07


Peace

[depakid]

18. Thanks for clearing that up

:-)

Wouldn't be such a bad result.

I sure hope the bookies (and Nielson) are right on this one....

[xchrom]

5. G-O-O-O-O! labour!

i really should get a cheerleaders outfit.

[SoCalDem]

7. Where have we heard that phrase before? Do they use paper ballots??

Methinks that ole Howard may have a trick or two up his sleeve, and the reports of "ooohh so close" are HIS cover.. he's a buddy of *²

Don't think they don't compare notes:(

[gtar100]

8. How is it that Howard could still get so many votes

It's so sad how nearly half of all voters have such disdain for their fellow human beings. It will never cease to amaze me. Stupid, stupid people voting right-wing, authoritarian. For what? A good quarterly profit margin? Short-term gain, long-term loss. Endless poverty, unemployment, war, and high crime rates. Sorry to see it's such an international epidemic.

[Andrushka]

12. It's the myth

of the "were doing so economically well, no sane person would change course!" argument they have convinced many people of.

Thankfully, there are many of my countrymen and women who see the bigger picture.

Go Labour. Go Greens. Fuck off Howard and your seedy gang.

[gtar100]

19. Congratulations are in order - Way to go!! Labour wins!!!

Keep up the momentum. We sure could use it over here.

[anakie]

9. POLLS ARE OPEN

Polls opened on the east coast an hour ago and hopefully for all of us on the anti-Howard side of things today is his last as Prime Minister.

Polls all year have shown Rudd 8 to 10 points ahead, but ominously the polls closed to 52-48 in the last 24 hours. The two polls showing 52-48 are both commissioned by News Limited and are used to sell newspapers, so a narrowing is good business sense. The other two polls show 53.5-46.5 and 57-43. Taking the average of the four gets Labor approx 53-47.

The good news on all the numbers is that Labor should rr should win, and get a majority of between 4 and 30.

Interestingly, the betting sites are showing Labor at around $1.30 to around 3.30 to 4.00 for the conservative coalition - ironically called the Liberal Party. These figures indicate an easy win for Labor. Follow the money.

I am still taking all of these figures with a grain of salt until I see Howard give his concession speech at around 2100 this evening.

Peace

ps if Howard is returned polls can never be believed or trusted ever again; Labor has been in front for the last 100 polls.


KEVIN07

[skipos]

10. How secure is the voting down there?

Ot, where you do you live? Sydney is one of my favorite, liveable cities? I like Melbourne a lot too.

[anakie]

11. Very.

Paper ballots, scrutineers from both parties. If Howard wins it wont be because of fraud. I live about an hours north of Brisbane, Queensland in a very safe Liberal seat, so my vote wont count as much as if I lived in a marginal electorate.

If interested follow the results from 0700GMT here

http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/

Peace

[Zorra]

13. If Howard wins it will be a planet-wide tragedy.

It's way too late in the game for another fascist to rule a country as big as Australia again; we need to start saving the planet yesterday.

[wuushew]

14. Howard's own Sydney seat in is danger

So victory day might be doubly sweet.

[cal04]

17. Embattled Australian PM votes, hopes for 5th term

By Michael Perry
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071124/wl_nm/australia_election_dc_6

Australian Prime Minister John Howard cast his ballot in national elections on Saturday hoping voters would return him for a fifth straight term and reject a younger opposition leader offering generational change.

"I hope we will win. I believe we will win. It is in the hands of my fellow Australians," Howard told reporters.

Conservative leader Howard, 68, has been in power for 11 years, but trails in opinion polls behind the opposition Labor leader, 50-year-old Kevin Rudd. Some polls predict a landslide victory to Labor, others say Howard and Rudd are neck-and-neck.

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.




http://www.smh.com.au/news/federal-election-2007-news/a-tight-and-tough-race/2007/11/24/1195753344751.html