SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — The Bush administration lost one of its staunchest political allies Saturday when Australians chose a Mandarin-speaking former farm boy to become their new prime minister.
Labor Party candidate Kevin Rudd swept to power in a landslide victory over Liberal incumbent John Howard, the second-longest serving prime minister in Australian history.
Unlike Howard, Rudd has pledged to pull combat troops from Iraq and to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a move that would leave the United States as the only major industrialized country to shun the initiative regulating greenhouse gases. But the incoming leader is not expected to jeopardize the strong ties Howard has built with Washington over the years after a campaign fought mainly on domestic issues.
Rudd, a former diplomat who served in Stockholm and Beijing, won despite his relative political inexperience and a strong economy. Many voters were fed up on a host of domestic issues that had dogged the incumbent: interest rate increases that Howard had failed to rein in despite promising to do so, workplace reforms that have proved disastrous, and his promise if reelected to retire midterm and hand over the office to his deputy, who would thereby assume power without having to face voters directly.
Rudd's win, analysts say, was also due in no small part to an electorate that was ready for a fresh start after more than a decade of Howard's conservative leadership.
"This is about a generational change," said Alan Dupont, director of the Center for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney. Howard's government was "seen as competent on economic issues," he said. "But after 11 years, it's very hard for one party to win for five terms."
At 50, the blond and boyish Rudd is 18 years Howard's junior, and voters quickly warmed to him. Polls showed him leading the incumbent for months before election day, but the results exceeded expectations.
Labor needed to win 76 seats in the 150-seat lower house of Parliament to wrest control of the government. Initial results indicated that the party had won at least 84.
A jubilant Rudd -- flanked by his wife, Therese Rein, and their three children -- began his victory speech by quieting the cheering crowd with the words "OK, guys."
But there is little that is casual about Rudd, who transformed the fate of the Australian Labor Party after taking over its stewardship less than a year ago, becoming the most popular opposition leader in 30 years.
