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Australia's prime minister Julia Gillard, left, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan, makes a statement to the media after a leadership ballot in Canberra, Australia, Thursday, March 21, 2013. Gillard remains Australia's prime minister after she threw her job open to a leadership ballot but no one from the government was willing to run against her.
CANBERRA, Australia—Three Australian government ministers have quit their portfolios in the continuing fallout from a bungled leadership showdown that reinforces perceptions of a crisis in Prime Minister Julia Gillard's administration six months before national elections.

Cabinet ministers Chris Bowen and Martin Ferguson as well as Kim Carr, who was a minister outside Cabinet, resigned Friday over their support for Gillard's rival, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Gillard on Thursday called a leadership ballot of ruling Labor Party lawmakers after weeks of leadership speculation.

Rudd decided against running, although his supporters say the result of a ballot would have been close.

Senior minister Simon Crean, who demanded the ballot, was sacked by Gillard and junior minister Richard Marles, a Rudd backer, resigned on Thursday.

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