There is, however, a gulf between selection - by party power brokers - and election - by the people - although the bookmakers are tipping a Gillard victory.
He wants you to see them not as a party of nice, worthy, unthreatening people who "want to stop the world and get off" but as a party that looks and sounds like a party of power - a party that matters enough to make people angry.
Jim Murphy, a Scottish Labour MP and the shadow defence secretary, wants the central party to devolve more power to the Scottish party, just as executive power was transferred when Tony Blair's government set up the Scottish Parliament in 1999.
Another, Anwar, 63, is a member of the provincial assembly and a member of the party in power, the Pakistan People's Party (the party of Benazir Bhutto, which is now led by her widower, Asif Ali Zardari).
By the time the opposition Labour Party took power in 1997, its leader, Tony Blair, had forced his party to accept much of her legacy, dropping its commitment to nationalized industries and embracing free markets.
That would normally give the party in power, in this case the Republicans, a campaign boost.
It always does, and this is true regardless of the political party in power.
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Americans have usually rewarded the party in power when they've been that satisfied.
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Voters do not put a Freedom Party into power unless they are being badly served by their traditional parties.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party lost power in Mexico , after seven decades, to Vicente Fox, a former Coca-Cola manager.
Unlike the House, it is weighted to give the minority party exceptional power.
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But Chavez's fiery and divisive style is not assured to become a hallmark of future leaders, even if his party retains power.
But most of all they detest Mr Blair for keeping their party from power by the ruse of clothing himself in Tory policies.
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The main opposition Telugu Desam Party lost power in 2004 partly because it was seen as in thrall to the IT industry and foreign investors.
My only real quibble is that the fiscal restraint actually started the year before the Liberal Party took power, as the chart ( click to enlarge) illustrates.
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Gandhi helped return the party to power in early 2004, and since then she has extended the idea of "inclusive growth" to its logical, though contestable, conclusion.
An opinion poll a week earlier showed his approval rating at 48%, the lowest since he led the Labor Party to power in late 2007 (see chart).
They are attracted to the city-state's low taxes, virtually crime-free streets, pro-business policies and predictable government, with one political party in power since it gained independence in 1965.
As Republicans escape blame for being the primary cause of a broken Washington, Democrats, as the party in power, are most at risk of losing elections in November.
But in his inaugural speech at a ceremonial palace in the old city centre, Mr Pena Nieto said the state had "lost ground" since his party left power.
Then as now, the party in power was pushing a politically popular issue, eager to score an electoral victory before sending members home for their month-long summer break.
How he addresses them will tell us whether the Mexican people who elected him, and returned his party to power, made a wise choice or a bad mistake.
Elsewhere, Malaysian stocks surged after the ruling party retained power.
The conservative Popular Party won power in 1996 only after it had whole-heartedly embraced democracy and in Jose Maria Aznar had chosen a leader unconnected to the Franco dictatorship.
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The Labour party won power in Southampton in May, vowing to reverse a pay cut for staff imposed by the previous Conservative administration and keep job losses to a minimum.
The Labour party won power in Southampton last May, vowing to reverse a pay cut for staff imposed by the previous Conservative administration and keep job losses to a minimum.
Dan Mica, a former Democratic congressman from Florida and now chief executive of the Credit Union National Association, says the party in power will tweak lobbying rules, making influence more transparent.
Since the departure of Gov. George Pataki four years ago, New York Republicans have been searching in vain for a charismatic figure who might restore the party to power in Albany.
As the African National Congress was grappling with its transformation from a left-leaning liberation organization to a party in power, Motsepe was developing his own convictions as a free market capitalist.
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