CANBERRA, Australia, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The opposition Australian Labor Party has elected Kevin Rudd as its new leader.
The 49 year-old Rudd replaces Kim Beazley, who has led the party twice in previous years -- 1996 and 2005.
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Rudd, who has been in Parliament for eight years, has been the opposition's spokesman on foreign affairs. He won a caucus ballot 49-39 Monday 49-39 for the fifth leadership change Labor has made since it lost power in 1996 to the Liberal-National coalition of Prime Minister John Howard.
However, according to the latest public opinion polls, voters favor the Labor Party over the government ahead of an election that must be called within the next 12 months.