Shorten would have become Australia’s sixth prime minister in as many years. The conservatives became a rare minority government after they dumped Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister for Morrison in an internal power struggle last August. Morrison is the conservatives’ third prime minister since they were elected in 2013. The parties have changed their rules to make the process of lawmakers replacing a prime minister more difficult. During Labor’s last six years in office, the party replaced Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with his deputy Julia Gillard, then dumped her for Rudd.

Source: Washington Post May 18, 2019 00:05 UTC