[Aliantha]

Mr Howard has said that he would retire some time during the next term regardless of whether he won or not. In my opinion this was a bad move and lost him votes, but that's a side issue.

The problem is, Mr Howard looks to be in grave danger of losing his seat anyway, which means he technically can't lead his party if he can't even get enough voters in his electorate to vote him in instead of his opposition.

So, if he doesn't win his seat, will he simply bow out gracefully and let someone else take over? Or will he force someone else from his party to give up their seat so that he can retain leadership until the party can find a suitable replacement. Mr Howards second in command, Peter Costello has already announced his retirement along with the leader of the other major party from the Coalition government, Mr Vale which basically leaves the party without a leader if Mr Howard loses his seat.

The party is in disarray which is why there's a lot of speculation around Mr Howards seat and what the consequences of either a win or a loss will be.

The opposition party (because we have basically a two party system over here) still needs a leader.