CANBERRA, Australia – Prime Minister Howard called a national election yesterday for October 9, and Australia’s presence in Iraq will likely be the biggest issue on the ballot.

Mr. Howard sent 2,000 troops to Iraq last year, and Australians responded with massive street protests. There are still about 850 military personnel stationed in Iraq. Mark Latham, who became leader of the opposition Labor Party in December, has pledged to bring Australian troops from Iraq by Christmas, a move President Bush said would be “disastrous” during a visit by Mr. Howard to the White House in June.

Mr. Howard will campaign his relationship with Mr. Bush and national security. He’s tightened laws on passports and increased jail terms and fines for identity fraud since the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, and bombings in Bali, Indonesia, in 2002.The Bali attack killed 202 people, 88 of them Australians.

Earlier this month, Parliament approved a free-trade agreement with America, which will boost Australia’s economy by about $4.3 billion a year after a decade, the Center for International Economics said.

Mr. Howard, a lawyer, is Australia’s third-longest serving prime minister behind Liberal Party founder Robert Menzies, who held power for 18 years and five months. Labor’s Bob Hawke ruled for eight years and nine months. Labor held power for 13 years until 1996 under Mr. Hawke and Paul Keating.

Mr. Latham says Australia needs a new government to improve education, health care, and the environment, and to restore truth to government.

Mr. Howard’s Liberal-National coalition holds power by just eight of Parliament’s 150 seats and trailed Labor in an August 17 Newspoll, an Australian polling company. The six-week campaign will be a generational battle between the 65-year-old Mr. Howard and 43-year-old Mr. Latham. Both leaders said they should be trusted to run the country.

“This election will be about trust,” Mr. Howard said. “Who do you trust to keep the economy strong and protect family living standards? Who do you trust to keep interest rates low? Who do you trust to lead the fight on Australia’s behalf against international terrorism?”

Truth in government became a key election issue three weeks ago, when 43 retired diplomats, military leaders, and top bureaucrats signed a public statement saying that the government had deceived the nation when it joined the Iraq war based on false assumptions that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Labor last week released a document of 27 alleged lies told by Mr. Howard during his three terms in office, including statements that university fees would not rise to $70,126 and beer and gas price increases would be limited after the introduction of a 10% tax on most goods and services. Mr. Howard rejected each of the claims.

“The election is about trust because people don’t trust this government any more,” Mr. Latham said yesterday.

Before entering Parliament in 1994, Mr. Latham was a local councilor and mayor in the outer Sydney suburb of Liverpool. An economics graduate from Sydney University, he also has worked as a barman and an adviser to New South Wales state premier Bob Carr.

Mr. Latham made headlines last year for describing Bush as “the most incompetent and dangerous president in living history” in the national Parliament. Mr. Latham is also known for breaking a cab driver’s arm before he took the Labor leadership post in a much-publicized dispute over a fare. Labor’s support has surged since Mr. Latham won the leadership. Some 54% preferred Labor, compared with 46% who favored the government, a Newspoll on August 17 found.