Japan Policy & Politics: Latham elected head of Australia opposition Labor Party

SYDNEY, Dec. 2 Kyodo

Australia's opposition Labor Party elected shadow treasurer Mark Latham as its new leader Tuesday.

With only two contenders for the leadership, Latham defeated former leader Kim Beazley 47 votes to 45.

The 42-year-old Latham from western Sydney replaces Simon Crean who stepped down Friday after losing the support of the party caucus.

''I'm deeply honored and we want to do good things for the country,'' Latham told reporters after the ballot.

Latham's election was a surprise for political analysts who picked a close ballot with the political veteran Beazley regaining the helm of the Labor Party.

Elected to federal parliament since 1994, Latham is considered a policy expert and known as an outspoken politician with some radical ideas. After graduating from Sydney University with an honors degree in economics, Latham worked as a political adviser to former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, and later New South Wales Premier Bob Carr.

Former Labor Minister Michael Lee said the party has taken a risk with Latham. ''The caucus has decided to take the gamble, to put all their chips on the number zero on the roulette wheel,'' he told Sky News.

''They've taken a big gamble, in some ways, perhaps because they realize there's an enormous task for the Labor Party in trying to defeat (Prime Minister) John Howard at the next election.''

Crean spent two years as leader of the Labor Party after replacing Beazley following the 2001 general election. It was Beazley's second attempt to regain the reins of the party after he failed to win a leadership challenge against Crean in June.

Howard's coalition government, which has been in power since 1996, is scheduled to call general elections by the end of 2004.