The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Sydney

Australian Prime Minister John Howard is headed for a landslide defeat at elections next week, according to an opinion poll Monday which showed the opposition surging ahead. The centre-left Labor Party gained two percentage points over the past week to extend its lead over Howard's conservative Liberal-National coalition to 55 percent against 45 percent, the Newspoll showed. The poll was taken just days after mortgage-belt voters were hit with the sixth hike in interest rates since Howard won the last election in 2004 with a promise to keep rates low. Labor leader Kevin Rudd also increased his personal lead over Howard as preferred prime minister, winning backing from 48 percent of the 1,119 voters polled against 40 percent for Howard. The prime minister, who has been in power for more than 11 years, refused to comment directly on the poll results, but said he still believed he could win a fifth term in office.