John Howard loses reelection

Australian Prime Minister John Howard (pictured here with animals nibbling at his bald dome) got a Conservative Fool Of The Day entry for a variety of gaffes. (Like The Online Lunchpail, that blog was not strictly limited to American news stories.)

Howard has been hugely unpopular, but he won several terms. The Prime Minister is chosen much like how the U.S. and A. picks its Speaker of the House. Usually the Prime Minister is the leader of whichever party wins the most seats in Australia's House of Representatives. Just like in America, people think everyone in the House is a jerk except their own representative - so Howard's party kept winning. What's Howard's conservative party called? The Liberal Party, believe it or not. Another factor in Howard's grip on power is the influence of the American news media and the Bush regime, which support Howard's conservative administration and have interfered with elections there before. (They've pulled the same stunt in Canada, France, and Germany.)

But now something funny just happened.

Howard's so-called Liberal Party is opposed by the left-leaning Labor Party. And Australia being a nation of laws and elections, you see, voters just got to have their say about Howard's right-wing rule once and for all. The Labor Party won enough seats to "form government", thereby ousting Howard.

Isn't it cool how elections work? Maybe the United States should start giving fair and free elections a chance again like it used to.

(Source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/federal-election-2007-news/pm-trails-mckew-early-swing-to-labor/2007/11/24/1195753358232.html)