CANBERRA -(Dow Jones)- Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Saturday called a Federal election for Aug. 21, three weeks after ousting her lackluster predecessor to become Australia's first female prime minister.
The election will pit Gillard's Labor Party, which came to power in 2007, against the Liberal-National coalition of center-right parties, led by 52-year-old Tony Abbott.
Gillard, 48, is seeking to capitalize on a rebound of popularity for her party since she ousted Kevin Rudd as prime minister, but political analysts expect the five-week election campaign to be fiercely fought, with issues including the economy, taxation, climate change and asylum seekers likely to dominate debate.
Labor led the Liberal-National block 52%-48% in a Nielsen poll published this week, while 56% of respondents chose Gillard as their preferred prime minister, to 35% for Abbott.
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones Newswires
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