Premier Albanese is in forecast – Diepresse.com

Premier Anthony Albanese (62), which is oriented in the middle-left, is expected to emerge as the winner from the parliamentary elections in Australia. According to Sky News Australia and Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the first forecasts after the polling stations were closed showed the social democratic laboratory party before the conservative opposition under top candidate Peter Dutton. However, it initially remained unclear whether it is enough for an absolute majority.

In addition to the conservative Liberal national alliance of opposition leader Dutton, numerous independent candidates and smaller parties had also stood for election. The laboratory party came back to power in 2022 after nine years of government of the Liberal national alliance. Topics in the election campaign were above all the high inflation, the high rental and real estate prices as well as the customs policy of US President Donald Trump.

The television broadcaster Sky News Australia and Seven predicted that the conservative coalition of liberals and nationals could not provide the government according to the first forms. The election analyst of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Antony Green, also spoke of a victory of the Labor Party.

18 million people were allowed to go to the urns

In Australia, around 18 million people chose a new parliament in an excited vote. In advance it had already said that US President Donald Trump could help the reigning social democratic government party to re -election and the long -favored conservative opposition to be doomed – similar to previously in Canada, where the liberal ruling party won. Prime Minister Albanese was ahead almost everywhere in surveys.

His challenger Peter Dutton, chairman of the right -wing conservative coalition of liberals and national, was traded in February as a more likely winner. But then he made some controversial statements to speak during the election campaign.

Dutton: Obvious closeness to Trump policy as a boomerang

Especially his obvious closeness to Trump’s politics brought him into the spin – for many Australians, the US President is a red cloth. Among other things, Dutton announced that they are released more than 40,000 state employees and ban mobile work for public employees. Later he moved away from these positions because of increasing criticism. His plan to have the first nuclear power plants built on the continent in Australia also turned out to be the own goal.

« At the beginning of the election campaign, he wrongly believed that he would use the insane clown in the White House, » wrote the newspaper « Sydney Morning Herald » shortly before the election. « When he was pointed out that the vast majority of Australians don’t like Trump at all, he tried to change the course. But a leopard cannot strip down its stains, » commented the left -liberal sheet duttons bad survey values. As usual, the newspapers and television stations of the media mogul Rupert Murdoch recommended to choose the conservatives.

Ribbon in the polling stations in the morning

The crowds in the polling stations were partly large in the morning, although there is also an obligation to vote in Australia. Some of them went to the polling station from the beach in swimming trunks. The central election campaign topic were the high cost of living and the acute lack of affordable living space. Both Albanese and Dutton have promised to reduce the financial pressure on the population.

While at Albaneses’s laboratory party otherwise a better health care as well as cheaper childcare and electricity bills were the focus, Dutton focused primarily on tax cuts, reduction in bureaucracy and a much sharper migration policy. He also promised to abolish the legal ban on nuclear power from the 1990s.

Millions have voted in advance

According to the election commission, more than eight million eligible voters have already voted in advance by either postal voting or early voting. That is about 45 percent of those entitled to vote. If you don’t give up a vote, you have to expect a fine of the equivalent of 11 euros.

In the vote, all 150 seats in the lower house and 40 of the 76 seats are filled in the Senate. If none of the two camps reached the 76 seats required for an absolute majority in the House of Representatives, the Australian Greens (Australian Greens, AG) and independent candidates could play a crucial role.

The polling stations are open until 6 p.m. local time (10 a.m. CEST). Results are expected in the course of the evening. (APA/dpa)