Australia’s ruling Conservative Coalition, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, on Sunday made a miraculous come back in the general election. All exit polls proved wrong. After the result, the opposition Labour Party forced its leader Bill Shorten to step down.
Voting for the general election took place on Saturday in Australia. Around 1.6 crore Australians exercised their franchise to elect the nation’s 31st prime minister. This election was widely referred to as the climate-change election.
The latest results showed that the Conservative Coalition has won 74 seats, while labour could secure 66. A party needs 76 seats for a simple majority in the 151-member House of Representatives. It was not clear if 51-year-old Morrison will require the support of independent MPs to govern.
But an independent, Helen Haines, who won from the seat of Indi, said that she would be working with the Coalition in the scenario of a hung parliament. Haines said she was very determined to work with the government on addressing climate change. Morrison along his wife Jenny visited a church in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire on Sunday in his electorate of Cook where he thanked his local voters.
PM Morrison told his supporters, “I have always believed in miracles… for me and for my government, for all of my team it’s all about you…tonight is about every Australian.”
