Reuters AlertNet Lite - Australian Labor wins fifth term in PM's home state

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Australian Labor wins fifth term in PM's home state

21 Mar 2009 10:41:07 GMT
Source: Reuters

CANBERRA, March 21 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Labor party won provincial elections in his home state of Queensland on Saturday, but suffered setbacks which is likely to cool speculation of an early national election.

The result saw a surge in support of almost 4 percent towards the conservative Liberal National Party, but not enough to unseat Premier Anna Bligh, who led Labor to its fifth consecutive win in the crucial mining state.

The state election is the first election in Australia since the onset of the global financial crisis, but Treasurer Wayne Swan said the election was fought and won on local issues.

Queensland was a crucial state in Rudd's election victory in late 2007 and the voter swing away from the state Labor party is likely make Rudd more cautious about possibly calling an early national election to cash in on his continued high poll rating.

(Reporting by James Grubel)

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