John Howard is viewed by most as boring and has been accused of turning his back on Asia and of being a U.S. lapdog.

Today he was swept back into office with a larger majority and is set to become the second-longest-serving Prime Minister in Australian history.

The Coalition gained two definite seats in Tasmania and as many as five in Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia – at the same time keeping its losses to possibly just two seats.

Speaking to a crowd of supporters, Howard described Australia as “a beacon of democracy, of tolerance, of hope and of achievement all around the world”. He said that yesterday’s Afghanistan election happened because “a number of countries, including Australia, were prepared to take a stand for democracy and to take a stand against terrorism”.

We are privileged to be able to participate in a great exercise in democracy.

And as the people of Afghanistan vote today, and particularly the women of Afghanistan who have been so brutally supressed for so long, we should be proud of the role that we played in the liberation.

Labor’s losses were the Green’s gains, as they now appear to be Australia’s third-largest party.

Hmmm, I wonder if these guys voted Green:

Staff of the Casey scientific research base cast their ballot at the most remote of Australia’s 7,732 polling stations which is located in the Australian Antartic Territory.