Rudd challenges Gillard in party vote

Australia: Former prime minister Kevin Rudd confirmed Friday he will challenge his successor Julia Gillard to lead Australia's ruling party, saying she had lost voters' trust and would crash at the next election.

Rudd, who quit as foreign minister while in Washington this week, arrived back in Australia a day after Prime Minister Gillard called a ballot for Monday to decide who should lead the Labor party.

"If we are honest to ourselves, all the indications are we are heading to the rocks at the next elections," he said, with polls due in 2013.

"Rightly or wrongly, Julia has lost the trust of the Australian people, and starting on Monday I will start restoring that trust.

"That is why I have decided to contest the leadership of the Australian Labor Party." But while he remains popular with voters, Rudd seems likely to lose the party vote, according to media tallies of the 103-member Labor caucus.

So far, at least 20 ministers have publicly declared for Gillard as the divisive rift has plunged Labor into crisis and descended into a series of ugly personal attacks.

However, Rudd emphasised the achievements of his government between 2007 and 2010, before he was abruptly removed by Gillard in a party coup following a series of policy mis-steps and bitter disputes over his leadership style. AFP