Gillard wins leadership vote to remain Australian Prime Minister

Julia Gillard, Australia's first woman Prime Minister, won an emphatic yes vote from her Labour Party peers, convincingly crushing her predecessor Kevin Rudd's hopes of bouncing back, in a leadership ballot that settles the two-year-old political drama in the ruling party.

Gillard declared that the row was over and it was time to get on with the job. Gillard, who ousted Rudd as prime minister in June 2010, won by 71 votes to 31. She called the ballot after weeks of speculation that Rudd was going to challenge her for the top job.

"I can assure you that this political drama is over," Gillard told a news conference after the vote,  the biggest win in a Labour leadership ballot in 30 years that ensured she would remain Prime Minister.

With the win in the 103-member Labour party caucus, Gillard ended Rudd's hopes of returning as Prime Minister any time before the general elections next year. However, the ballot is bound to leave a trail of division and infighting within the party and despite a huge margin of victory, the Prime Minister now faces a tough challenge to heal her divided party that has to face an election in 2013.

Gillard and Rudd shook hands and spoke after the ballot result was announced Speaking after the vote, Rudd threw his support behind the prime minister.

A cabinet reshuffle is now expected to fill his position as foreign minister, from which he resigned last week.