1 of 3 | Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secured a second term in office Saturday, completing a turnaround in the polls for his Labor Party.
File Photo by Paul Braven/EPA-EFE
May 3 (UPI) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secured a second term in office Saturday, completing a turnaround in the polls for his Labor Party.
Albanese and the Labor Party secured at least 70 of the country’s 150 seats in the House, with the country’s national Australian Broadcasting Corporation calling the election less than an hour after polls closed.
The 62-year-old was first elected as prime minister in 2022 and served as Labor Party leader since 2019.
“Thank you, Australia,” Albanese said on X, accompanied by a photo.
A month ago, polls suggested Albanese and his left-of-center party were trailing significantly as the country rode a wave of populism in the wake of the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Saturday’s results suggest a significant turnaround, with voters rejecting a hard-line conservative agenda that included promises of tougher immigration policies in favor of handing Albanese a second term.
“We take out this task with new hope, new confidence and new determination,” told reporters after he was declared victorious.
Final voting results had yet to be tallied, but ABC reported the Labor Party’s final seat count could surpass 80, eclipsing the 76 needed to form a majority government.
Smaller parties and independent candidates are projected to collect around 13 seats in Australia’s federal legislature.
Peter Dutton, the leader of the conservative Liberal Party of Australia, lost his seat in the state of Queensland and later conceded victory to Albanese.
Dutton had held the seat, considered a conservative stronghold, for 24 years.
He had been attempting to form a right-leaning coalition government in the country, which has a population of 28.6 million people. The country is one of a few where voting is mandatory for the 18 million eligible voters. Around 4.8 million people cast their ballots early, according o ABC.
“Not the night we wanted,” Dutton told reporters at his campaign headquarters after conceding the election.