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[Shyseven]

Rudd wins the election of 2007 and he is the new Prime Minister of australia!

By ninemsn staff and wires

Kevin Rudd is set to become the next prime minister of Australia, with predictions saying the Australian Labor Party will form government with 80 seats in the Lower House.

But the Labor leader said he's "too cautious to get excited", according to Labor sources.

Labor has claimed victory in the bellwether NSW seat of Eden-Monaro, with Labor candidate Mike Kelly telling the Seven Network he had won the seat.

Asked if he was claiming victory, Mr Kelly replied:"Yes we are."

Eden-Monaro has traditionally gone to the party which wins government.

John Howard meanwhile may lose his seat of Bennelong with a 6.6 per cent swing to Labor, early election results indicate.

Star candidate Maxine McKew enjoys about 46 per cent of the primary vote from booths counted so far.

Mr Howard may become only the second prime minister in Australian history to lose his seat in an election.

Results have begun coming in, with booths across all Australian states and territories now closed.

The early results indicate a grim fate for the Coalition in NSW, particularly in mortgage-belt strongholds.


Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull is just ahead of Labor's George Newhouse in Wentworth, with 48 percent of the primary vote and 50.2 percent of the two-party preferred vote — and around 8 percent of the vote counted so far.

Federal Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran looks likely to retain his Victorian seat of Gippsland after almost two hours of counting. Mr McGauran has suffered a small swing of 1.25 per cent against him with just over 37 per cent of the vote counted.

Victoria is not expected to play a crucial role in determining the election outcome, but a big swing against the Coalition could result in several Victorian seats changing hands.


Earlier, exit polls indicated that Kevin Rudd's Australian Labor Party will win the 2007 election in a landslide with 53 per cent of the vote on a two-party preferred basis.

Labor looks likely to romp home in Lindsay, the seat formerly held by Liberal MP Jackie Kelly and the site of the Muslim pamphlet scandal this week.

Labor's David Bradbury has 52.9 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, putting him in a strong position against Liberal candidate Karen Chijoff.

The Chaser's Charles Firth, working for the Nine Network, caused a flurry in the tally room when he approached Liberal senator Bill Heffernan with an oversized cardboard copy of the notorious fake Muslim letter.

Senator Heffernan became agitated with Firth, grabbed the novelty letter and made an attempt to tear it. As a huge media pack gathered around the pair, Senator Heffernan appeared to calm down and had a brief conversation with Firth.

At the litmus test seat of Eden-Monaro, Labor's Mike Kelly is ahead on the two-party preferred count, with 51 percent of the vote.

Nationals leader Mark Vaile should comfortably hold his NSW seat of Lyne with 52.55 per cent of votes counted so far.

His nearest candidate is Labor's James Langley who has 643 votes, handing him a swing of more than six per cent but not enough to claim the safe Nationals electorate.

Labor is in with a chance of snaring the blue ribbon NSW Nationals seat of Page. Labor candidate Janelle Saffin has a 10 per cent swing to her with more than five per cent of the vote counted.

Ms Saffin has 2537 votes while the Nationals' Chris Gulaptis is leading on 3039 votes.

In the Victorian electorate of La Trobe, candidates Jason Wood (Liberal) and Rodney Cocks (Labor) are running neck and neck with 32 percent of the vote counted.

Labor needs to hold on to 60 seats nationally and gain another 16 to take government from the Coalition for the first time in 11 years.


At this point it is too early to draw any conclusions, as only a fraction of the votes have been counted.

The Sky News and Network Seven exit poll of 2700 voters across 31 marginal Coalition seats in Australia shows that Mr Rudd will be the next prime minister and that John Howard will lose Bennelong, the seat he has held since 1974.

The poll predicts Labor's star recruit Maxine McKew will sweep to victory in Bennelong with a winning margin of 53 per cent.

Both exit poll results mirror the predictions from Passion Pulse, ninemsn's poll of more than 80,000 people, which has forecast a Labor landslide. (Full seat-by-seat forecast).


Earlier today, Mr Howard made a last-minute pitch to undecided voters heading to the voting booths before close of poll today.

"I just say to those people who still haven't voted and are undecided if you think the country's generally heading in the right direction then don't vote for change," Mr Howard told Sky News.

"Because there is always a risk that it will start heading in the wrong direction."

Mr Howard spent the day campaigning at polling booths around his local electorate of Bennelong in Sydney's north-west.

He said overall the feeling was positive and people had been "very supportive".

"Most people are sensible about their political differences, a few people should get a life and not take it so seriously," he said.

Mr Howard said he also felt there had been a recent swing back towards the coalition.

"I met a lot of people who were very encouraged that there will be a surge back to the government, but it is getting very close."