Australia PM announces August 21 election date

Melbourne: Australia will hold a general election on August 21, the country's Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced.

Gillard called the snap poll only three weeks after becoming the country's first female leader.

She said the governing Labor Party had lost its way under her predecessor, Kevin Rudd, who was ousted in the party coup which culminated with her election as leader.

Since then Gillard has reversed the party's poor poll ratings, which were pointing to electoral defeat, gaining a narrow lead over the rival Liberal party led by Tony Abbott.

But the Liberals need to win only nine seats to form a government with four independents, or 13 seats to take office outright.

Priorities set

Announcing the election, Gillard said: "Today I seek a mandate from the Australian people to move Australia forward. Moving forward means moving forward with budget surpluses and a stronger economy."

She said her priorities were creating jobs, boosting education, improving health care, fighting climate change and strengthening border protection.

Although Labor steered the economy through the meltdown, avoiding recession last year, opinion polls show that voters view the opposition as better economic managers, Reuters reported.

Gillard was deputy to Rudd, who became a Labor hero when he led the party to a crushing election victory in November 2007 after 11 years in opposition. He remained one of the most popular prime ministers in modern Australian history until he made a series of unpopular political moves earlier this year, including shelving a key pledge to make industries pay for the carbon gas they emit.