Australia’s Labor party leader has claimed victory in the national election after Prime Minister Scott Morrison conceded defeat even as the votes are still being counted, ending nearly a decade of conservative government.
“The Australian people have voted for change. I am humbled by this victory,” Labor leader Anthony Albanese told his supporters in Sydney on Saturday after leading his party to victory following nine years in opposition.
“I think people have had enough of division, what they want is to come together as a nation and I intend to lead that,” Albanese said earlier in the day.
Labor has so far secured 72 seats, four seats short of the majority in the 151-member lower house of the parliament, according to partial results.
The centre-right coalition, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, has so far secured 51 seats. Morrison conceded defeat late on Saturday even though vote counting was still under way.
Final results could take time as the counting of a record number of postal votes is completed.
Morrison concedes defeat
The centre-right coalition had faced mounting pressure for their handling of cost-of-living pressures, the pandemic and climate change
“Tonight, I have spoken to the leader of the opposition and the incoming Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and I’ve congratulated him on his election victory this evening,” Morrison said at a televised speech in Sydney.
Morrison added he would stand down as leader of the Liberal party as he defended his record despite election loss.
“We hand over this country as a government in a stronger position than when we inherited it when we came to government (in 2013),” Morrison told his supporters.The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) earlier predicted Morrison’s incumbent Liberal-National coalition cannot win enough seats to form a majority government.
The results have been notable for a strong performance by independent candidates, many of whom ran in traditional Liberal seats and campaigned on the issue of climate change.If Labor cannot secure an outright victory, then Australia will have a hung parliament for the first time since 2010. Before that, the last hung parliament occurred in 1940.
Anything less than 76 seats in the lower house means the winner will need to negotiate with smaller parties and independents in order to try and form a minority government.
Labor has led opinion polls throughout the six-week campaign, but the gap has narrowed with Morrison’s coalition making up ground before election day.
Morrison had hoped to become the first prime minister to win two elections in a row since John Howard in 2004. The Labor Party clinched its first electoral win since 2007.
Voting is compulsory in Australia and just more than 17.2 million people have enrolled to vote, according to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
Record numbers of voters cast their ballots at early voting centres or via postal votes, and more than half of the total votes had been cast by Friday evening, according to the commission.
Polls closed across the country at 6pm (08:00 GMT) in Sydney and 10:00 GMT on the west coast.
Australia uses a preferential voting system rather than the simple majority employed in countries like the United Kingdom and the United States, and voters rank their candidate choices on the ballot paper.
The campaign has focused heavily on the rising cost of living, with Australia experiencing its highest inflation rate in 21 years, and the central bank raising interest rates for the first time since 2010.
Morrison argued his handling of the economy was a major reason for voters to back him again, pointing to record low unemployment rates.
He had also proposed a scheme to allow young people early access to their retirement funds to help them buy their first property.
Concerned for future
Labor had attacked the government’s economic record, highlighting how wages were not growing quickly enough to meet the increased cost of living.
“As a recent grandfather I am concerned about the future generations and the economic policies of the major parties aren’t addressing that,” Brian Silver, a teacher voting in Sydney told Al Jazeera.