World | Australia
Rudd eyes second term with early election
Australians may go to an election in early 2010 as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd struggles to pass his agenda through a hostile Senate, but going to the ballot box may not solve Rudd's political frustrations.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:26 July 3, 2009
Canberra: Australians may go to an election in early 2010 as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd struggles to pass his agenda through a hostile Senate, but going to the ballot box may not solve Rudd's political frustrations.
Rudd is dominating opinion polls and would easily win a second term with a bigger majority. But he may not win control of the upper-house Senate, where independents and Greens hold the swing votes, leaving his legislative agenda still in question.
By going to the polls mid-way through his first term, Rudd might avoid the political fallout of rising unemployment expected in late 2010 from the global financial crisis and electorally damaging criticism he can't manage the economy.
And by using his embattled emissions trading scheme legislation as a trigger for a rare double-dissolution election of both houses of parliament, he would ensure his key climate policy was passed in a post-election sitting of parliament.
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