The Australian Labor Party will topple the ruling conservatives at a national election – although it may have to form a minority government, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation says.
Initial vote counts showed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative Liberal Party coalition and the Labor opposition losing ground to smaller parties such as the environment-focused Greens and climate-focused 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 [on] 72, and needs 76 seats to govern. There are 11 members of the crossbench, most of whom support action on climate change,” said ABC election analyst Antony Green in a live broadcast.
“If Labor falls short and it wants to form government, it can talk to the Greens or it can talk to the crossbench.”
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