Australia’s election is too close to call, with the Liberal-National coalition government leading the count. However, it remains unclear if it has won the 76 seats it needs to stay in power without the support of independents and minor parties.
Postal and pre-poll votes are now being counted as a number of important seats go down to the wire. More than 10 million people cast ballots on Saturday, on top of four million who voted early, BBC reported.
Australians, seemingly in a mood to punish the major parties, voted in large numbers for independents and minor parties, correspondents say.
Senator Nick Xenophon has been pegged as a potential kingmaker after his newly formed political party took South Australian seat of Mayo, formerly a safe Liberal seat.
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party has polled strongly in Queensland and although it has not won a lower house seat, its preferences have tended to flow to the opposition Labor Party.
Hanson told the Nine Network that, based on early results, she was likely to secure two spots in the Senate.
Labor has improved strongly on the 55 seats it currently holds in the lower house, gaining seats in Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland.
