Vote counting resumed on Monday in a dramatic Australian federal election but a victor is not expected to be announced for several days, raising the prospect of prolonged political and economic instability.
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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is chasing support from key independent and minor parties – the very groups he called a risky double dissolution election to circumvent in order to retain power.
Vote counting for the Senate resumed on Monday but counting for the House of Representatives does not restart until Tuesday, leaving the precarious position of the lower house in limbo. At least 11 seats are undecided, and there may be recounts in some of the constituencies that have seen close contests.
Mr Turnbull again accused Labor of cynically abusing the trust of Australians by lying to them about a secret coalition plan for the privatisation of Medicare.
According to the latest update from Australian Electoral Commission, Labor stood at 71 seats while Turnbull-led Liberal/National Coalition has 67.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is confident “but not cocky” the coalition will form government in the coming days or weeks.
Conservative commentator Andrew Bolt isn’t handling the result very well.
“The speed of politics has definitely increased”, Smith said.
“So the voters punished Labor and gave a resounding victory to Tony Abbott”.
“I remain quietly confident that a majority coalition government will be returned at this election when the counting is completed”, he said on Sunday.
The Labor leader, jubilant from his party’s stronger than expected showing in the election in which there is even a chance of them forming a minority government, was going in for the kill on Monday.
With Labor and the Liberals in a virtual tie, there is a possibility neither would end up with enough seats to form a majority government, resulting in a hung parliament.
Hung parliaments are extremely rare in Australia, with only two since 1940. If no alliance can be forged, the government could end up calling yet another election.
“His own party know he is not up to the job, the Australian people know he is out of touch and he has given a Senate reform which involves two or three One Nation senators”. The right wing faction inside the party. will go after him.
And there was a “fair bit of irony” when Mr Turnbull tried to capitalise on Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. “During these times of instability, Turnbull said it would be in Australia’s interest to have a stable government with a clear mandate”, he said. “But the voters did not buy that theory”.
“Turnbull, if he is still prime minister, would be confronted by the prospect of internal disunity plus a chaotic upper house that could likely make it almost impossible to do much that is meaningful”.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is not up to the job and should resign, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said on Monday, ridiculing his counterpart’s promises of stability and describing him as the “David Cameron of the southern hemisphere”.
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Analysts and politicians are also saying that if neither party can cut a deal with the independent candidates, then a political deadlock will ensue, forcing a re-election.
