Australian election ends in dead heat
Green Party and independents to decide who forms government
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With more than 80 per cent of votes counted, the Labor Party and the Conservative coalition appear to have won the same number of seats in Australia’s national election, leaving three independents and a single Green MP as kingmakers. Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s Labor Party and Tony Abbott’s conservative coalition are both expected to end up with 73 seats, three short of the 76 required to form a majority government. While the lone Green MP’s support is expected to go to the centre-left Labor Party, it’s unclear who the three independents will choose. Experts say it could take longer than a week for negotiations between the independents and the two parties to wrap up. The Liberal party, which leads the Conservative coalition, currently has 39.3 per cent of the popular vote, with Labor at 38.5 per cent and the Greens at 11.4 per cent.