Prime Minister John Howard scored a stunning victory in Australia's federal election Saturday, in a vote that will ensure the country keeps its troops in Iraq. With more than 60 percent of the vote tallied, Labor Party leader Mark Latham conceded defeat in a speech to supporters in western Sydney, saying he'd called Howard to congratulate him on his fourth straight election victory. "Tonight was not our night," Latham told the crowd. The election was widely seen abroad as the first referendum for the three leaders who launched the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, with U.S. President George W. Bush facing a ballot next month and Britain's Tony Blair probably facing voters next year. Labor had vowed to bring the roughly 900 Australian troops deployed in and around Iraq home by Christmas, while Howard insisted they will stay until Iraqis ask them to leave.
