Australian leader sets snap election in March

By Compiled From Wire Service Dispatches With Analysis From Monitor Correspondents Around The World; Edited By Linda Feldmann

February 4, 1983

Canberra

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser called a snap election for March 5, accusing labor unions and the opposition Labor Party of attempting to wreck his economic plans.

The three-year term of Mr. Fraser's Liberal-National Party coalition was due to end in October. Just before the Fraser announcement Thursday, Labor Party leader William Hayden said he was stepping down.