Australia is staring at the possibility of a hung parliament with a swing away from the Coalition. Last night’s vote count has left Australia’s political fate hanging in balance with neither Coalition nor Labor going past the 76 seat mark.
Both Labor and the Coalition are projected to win 67 seats after 70 percent of votes counted, and nearly a dozen seats are too close to call.
Despite the real possibility of Mr. Turnbull having to deal with independents and minor parties to continue as the prime minister of Australia, he put up a brave face and asserted the Coalition will form a majority government.
"Based on the advice I have from the party officials, we can have every confidence that we will form a coalition majority government in the next parliament," he said.
Mr Turnbull conceded it was a "very, very close count" with 30 per cent of votes yet to be counted.
It could be several days before the results were finalised, with official counting not expected to resume until Tuesday.
Labor is back, Shorten declares
The election result could be days away but the Labor Party is back, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has declared.
"Three years after the Liberals came to power in a landslide, they have lost their mandate," he declared to party faithful on Saturday night.
"In the past three years we have united as a party."
Mr Shorten said the coalition's economic program had been rejected by the people of Australia.
