Gillard defeats Rudd in Labor party leadership battle

Australian prime minister Julia Gillard defeated predecessor Kevin Rudd in a leadership ballot, giving her an opportunity to unite the ruling Labor party and brighten its poll prospects ahead of the 2013 elections.

Gillard polled 71 votes against Rudd's 31 in the ballot of party lawmakers today, according to Labor official Chris Hayes. Rudd, who was foreign minister quit his post last week, in a bid to regain the nation's top job, and said he accepted the result and would fully support the prime minister.

After weeks of political infighting, Gillard, 50, would need to first put the party in order, as her government has announced it would introduce unprecedented taxes on mining profits and carbon emissions.  The Liberal-National opposition says it would scrap the taxes. The nation's first female prime minister would also have her hands full as she tries to hold together a minority government supported by independent and Green party lawmakers, even as she looks to narrow the opposition's 10-point lead in the latest opinion poll.

According to Andrew Hughes, who conducts research in political marketing at the Australian National University in Canberra, Rudd's leadership ambitions were as good as over. He added, the doubts were over within the party and now Gillard needed to work on winning over the voters, who still seemed to have plenty of doubts.

''This political drama is over,'' Gillard told reporters in Canberra after the vote, adding the party would unite to fight the next election. ''I will take Labor to that election and I am confident we can win.''

Rudd, 54, congratulating Gillard on her ''strong'' performance in the ballot, said it was time the party's ''wounds were healed.''