Australia's ruling coalition led by Prime Minister John Howard has won the fourth term in the general election on Saturday.

The Liberal-National coalition won a swing in each state, with the strongest swing of 3.74 percent in Tasmania, followed by 3.56 in Western Australia.

Opposition Labor Party lost traditional seats in the island state of Tasmania and key marginal seats in other parts of the country.

With the victory, Howard, 65, will become Australia's second longest serving prime minister, after Liberal Party founder Robert Menzies who remained in office for 17 years from 1949.

About 13 million voters cast votes on Saturday to elect 150 members of the House of Representatives and 40 Senators.

Howard has claimed victory during an address at Sydney's Wentworth Hotel.

Australia, which has one of the strongest economies in the world, stands on the threshold of a new era of great achievement, he said.

It was the first time since 1960s that a government had increased its majority at successive elections, he said, adding the victory is a truly historic achievement for the two coalition parties.

Howard thanked Treasurer Peter Costello for giving Australia "one of the strongest economies in the western world and also the strongest economic conditions that this country arguably has experienced since the end of World War II."

There have been speculations that Howard may retire during the next term and hands over to Costello.

Opposition Leader Mark Latham conceded his defeat earlier during an address at the Mt Pritchard community club in western Sydney and congratulated Howard.

Latham said the Labor had run a positive campaign and he was proud of the policies the party had put forward on education, security, the economy and the environment.

"I'm glad we did that because I know for a fact that so many Labor supporters, Labor voters today felt good about supporting our cause because of the choices and alternatives we put forward," he said.

"I've had a lot of people say that we've made the opposition strong and when there is a strong opposition Australian democracy is so much stronger," he said.

"We'll continue to do that in the coming parliamentary term," he said.
 
(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2004)