AUSTRALIA: Mr John Howard will become Australia's second longest-serving prime minister on December 22nd, having won a fourth term with the Liberal-National Coalition's victory in Saturday's federal election writes Pádraig Collins in Sydney.
With 80 per cent of the vote tallied by last night it looked likely that the coalition's seat majority would increase from 16 to more than 20 on a swing of 3.3 per cent to the Liberals and 0.2 per cent to the Nationals.
Before supporters in Sydney, Mr Howard said: "I am truly humbled by this extraordinary expression of confidence in the leadership of this great nation by the coalition.
"We are joyful that the verdict has been given by the Australian people but never forget the fact that governments are elected to govern not only for the people who voted for them, but also for the people who voted against them."
In his concession speech opposition leader Mr Mark Latham said Labour's campaign was based on principles.
"We ran on our positive beliefs about hope and opportunity in this country . . . and we'll continue to advance our beliefs and our policies in the parliament in the coming three years."
US President Mr George Bush, speaking from St Louis, said: "I want to congratulate my good friend Prime Minister John Howard, who won a great victory."
Australia is one of the strongest supporters of the US-led war on terror and is part of the "Coalition of the Willing" in Iraq.
The coalition took eight seats from Labour, but at least three seats went the other way also.
The first Labour seats to fall were those in Bass and Braddon in northern Tasmania. Labour paid a heavy price for their election promise to end logging in Tasmania's old growth forests.
Although the corollary - that Labour would get the Greens' preferences - did happen, it was not enough to affect the result.
Although the Greens vote nationally went up from 5 per cent to 7 per cent, they lost their one lower house seat to Labour. However, the Greens did gain a seat in the Senate.
The final Senate tally looks likely to give the Coalition exactly half of the seats. With the expected support of a seat likely to be won by the ultra-right-wing Family First party, the coalition will be able to rubber stamp most, if not all, the legislation it first passes in the lower house.
Australia's treasurer, Mr Peter Costello, would not comment on speculation that the Prime Minister will retire sometime next year and hand over the reins to him.
"Nobody has backed John Howard more than me and I don't think tonight is the night to try and raise those issues," he said.
Opposition treasury spokesman and former party leader Mr Simon Crean has blamed Labour's defeat on the government's scare campaign on interest rates.
"I think that when we look at this campaign, we'll see it's been a triumph of the big lie being sold over the positive message," he said.