CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard won a resounding victory Monday against the party leader she deposed two years ago, Kevin Rudd, in a ballot of Labor Party lawmakers that she had ordered in hopes of putting down strife within her unpopular government.
Gillard defeated Rudd by a resounding 71 votes to 31, official Chris Hayes said after the meeting.
Media had earlier incorrectly reported the result as 73 to 29.
Supporters of both candidates had expected Rudd to gain around a third of the votes. Rudd had vowed that if he lost the ballot, he would remain in politics at least until elections due next year, but he said he would not challenge her leadership again.
Gillard called for the leadership ballot within her ruling party last week, soon after Rudd quit as foreign minister, to confirm her authority after simmering leadership tensions that have destabilized the government for months.
A narrow victory could have left her exposed to a second challenge if Labor continued to trail the conservative opposition coalition in opinion polls.
Gillard was deputy prime minister two years ago when she made a snap challenge to Rudd's leadership. When Rudd discovered how few lawmakers were prepared to support him at the time, he did not contest the ballot and Gillard became prime minister without a vote.
Shares