Australia: PM Morrison Facing Defeat in National Election

NEW DELHI, May 21: A change of government in Australia is in the offing. The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday that he had conceded defeat in a national election and added that while vote counting was incomplete the opposition Labor party looked likely to form a government.

“Tonight I have spoken to the Leader of the Opposition and the incoming Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and I’ve congratulated him on his election victory this evening,” Morrison said at a televised speech in Sydney.

Morrison added that he would stand down as leader of the Liberal party. The capitulation ends eight years and nine months in power for Morrison’s conservative coalition. Morrison became prime minister in 2018 after several leadership changes.

The Australian Labor party set to topple the ruling conservatives at the national election although it may have to form a minority government, the Australian Broadcasting Corp said. Initial vote counts showed Morrison’s conservative coalition and the Labor opposition losing ground to smaller parties like the environment-focused Greens and climate-focussed independents.

Neither of the major parties appeared certain to win the minimum 76 seats required for a majority in the 151-seat parliament, but Labor appeared on track to win more than 70 seats, the ABC said.

“Labor is 72 and needs 76 seats to govern. There are 11 members of the crossbench, most of whom support action on climate change,” said ABC. “If Labor falls short and it wants to form government, it can talk to the Greens or it can talk to the crossbench.”

(Manas Dasgupta)