Gillard trounces Rudd to stay on as Australian PM

Australian prime minister Julia Gillard won a resounding victory today against the party leader she deposed two years ago, Kevin Rudd, in a ballot of Labour Party politicians that she had ordered in hopes of putting down strife within her unpopular government.

Ms Gillard defeated Mr Rudd by a resounding 71 votes to 31, official Chris Hayes said after the meeting.

Media had earlier incorrectly reported the result as 73 to 29.

Supporters of both candidates had expected Mr Rudd to gain around a third of the votes.

Mr Rudd had vowed that if he lost the ballot, he would remain in politics at least until elections due next year, but he said he would not challenge her leadership again.

Ms Gillard called for the leadership ballot within her ruling party last week, soon after Mr Rudd quit as foreign minister, to confirm her authority after simmering leadership tensions that have destabilised the government for months.

A narrow victory could have left her exposed to a second challenge if Labour continued to trail the conservative opposition coalition in opinion polls.

Ms Gillard was deputy prime minister two years ago when she made a snap challenge to Mr Rudd’s leadership.

When Mr Rudd discovered how few politicians were prepared to support him at the time, he did not contest the ballot and Ms Gillard became prime minister without a vote.