All politics is local, and the Australian elections are no different.

Howard Government Suffers Defeat

By PATRICK BARTA and RACHEL PANNETT

November 24, 2007 7:39 a.m. SYDNEY -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard suffered a humiliating defeat in national elections Saturday, according to preliminary results, most likely ending the political career of one Asia's most enduring conservative leaders and a key ally of U.S. President George W. Bush in the region. Voters were ready to hand control of the government to Australia's opposition Labor party, headed by former diplomat Kevin Rudd, who has promised to boost relations with China, pull some troops from Iraq, and re-make Australia as a leader in the global effort to stop global warming. The defeat appears so complete that the 68-year-old Mr. Howard, Australia's second-longest-serving prime minister, appeared likely to lose his own parliamentary seat, which he has held for 33 years. With 70% of the votes counted, Labor was on track to win at least 80 of the 150 seats in Parliament's House of Representatives, where governments are formed, compared with just 60 in the last election in 2004, according to Australian Broadcasting Corp. Full results won't be known for several days but concessions from the Howard camp are expected before long.

See tunney's diary with more links and analysis.

This was not a referendum over Iraq (local issues predominate, including a scandal about election dirty tricks)

But the furore over bogus leaflets being distributed in the western Sydney seat of Lindsay made it big in the world pages of the leading broadsheets. Purporting to be from a fictitious Islamic group, the Islamic Australia Foundation, the flyers claim Labor wants the Bali bombers forgiven and supports construction of a controversial mosque. Greg Chijoff, husband of Liberal candidate for Lindsay Karen Chijoff, was forced to quit the party over the scandal. The Independent ran the headline: "Howard rocked by smear scandal as defeat looms", while The Daily Telegraph said: "Dirty tricks row hits Howard's final plea".

but one by one world leaders who supported the invasion are being pushed out of office (Aznar, Blair and now Howard, to name three). Their replacements aren't likely to be so trusting of Bush, though policy will not radically change, either. Bottom line? It doesn't matter what part of the world you live in. George W Bush is an albatross around the neck of every politician who supports him. Oh, and that's true in the US as well [though as our Australian friends note, that's not why Howard lost].