Gillard Calls Leadership Ballot After Rival Rudd Resigns

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard called a leadership vote for Feb. 27, setting up a second showdown with her predecessor Kevin Rudd as weeks of growing tension damage the Labor government.

“We need a leadership ballot in order to settle this question once and for all,” Gillard, the nation’s first female prime minister, said at a press conference in Adelaide, after Rudd yesterday resigned as foreign minister. “For far too long we have seen squabbling within the Labor party which has obscured the government’s achievements.”