CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Polls have closed across Australia on Saturday with early counting of the general elections results suggesting the ruling conservative coalition is at risk of losing several seats as it seeks a second term after a divisive first three years in power.
After years of political turmoil, leaders of the major parties are each promising to bring stability to a government long mired in chaos.
The elections, which the conservative coalition government against the center-left Labor Party, cap an extraordinarily volatile period in the nation’s politics. Australian political parties can change their leaders under certain conditions and have done so in recent years with unprecedented frequency. Should Labor win, its leader, Bill Shorten, would become Australia’s fifth prime minister in three years.
The winner will likely be known late Saturday.
A Newspoll published in The Australian newspaper on Saturday showed the coalition leading by 50.5 percent to Labor’s 49.5 percent. The Newspoll was based on nationwide interviews with 4,135 voters conducted between Tuesday and Friday, and has a 3 percentage point margin of error.