Australian election result 'too close to call'

Australians today chose between giving their first female prime minister her own election mandate and returning to a conservative government after just three years.

With more than 75% of the votes counted, prime minister Julia Gillard said: “Obviously this is too close to call. There are many seats where the result is undecided and where it will take a number of days of counting to determine the result.”

Ms Gillard said she will remain the caretaker leader and hoped to form the next government.

A record number of votes cast for independents and Australian Greens party candidates could decide the outcome, with the possibility growing that the mainstream parties will need to strike a deal with fringe groups to form a government. Such a coalition would be the first in almost 70 years.

Tony Abbott, leader of the opposition conservative Liberal Party, said he would immediately begin negotiations with independents to form a government.

“We stand ready to govern and we stand ready to offer the Australian people stable, predictable and competent government,” Mr Abbott told supporters.

He said Labour had lost both its majority and legitimacy.

Analyst Norman Abjorensen, an Australian National University political scientist, said the most likely outcome was an unstable minority government led by Mr Abbott and supported by independents.

Two independents, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, said they would side with whichever party could provide the most stable government.

The results were the closest since 1961, when a Liberal government retained power with a single seat.

Ms Gillard, a cheerfully charismatic and sharp-witted 48-year-old former lawyer, came to power in a June 24 internal coup in her centre-left Labour Party during the first term of her predecessor, and almost immediately called elections to confirm her mandate.

Mr Abbott, a married 52-year-old former Roman Catholic seminarian with three daughters, barely gained the endorsement eight months ago of his Liberal Party, which has led Australia for most of the last 60 years.

Australians have not dumped a first-term government since 1931 when a Labour administration paid the ultimate price for the Great Depression. However, this year’s elections are coloured by Ms Gillard’s surprise seizure of the helm of her party from former prime minister Kevin Rudd after a series of poor opinion polls.

Ms Gillard, a Welsh-born immigrant who has a common-law hairdresser spouse, had acknowledged before polls closed that Labour could lose its entire eight-seat majority in the 150-seat House of Representatives. Labour won 83 seats in the last elections in 2007.

Issues vary across the large and diverse country, but asylum seekers, healthcare and climate change are hot topics nationwide.

Another issue brought to the forefront today was the presence of the Australian military in Afghanistan, where two soldiers were killed the day before. The government and opposition both support Australia’s military commitment to Afghanistan, where 20 Australian troops have now died.

Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott both sent their condolences to the families and praised the sacrifice of the soldiers.

The decision by Labour power-brokers to support Ms Gillard – widely regarded as a better communicator than Mr Rudd – cost the party the traditional incumbent’s advantage.

One of those power-brokers, Paul Howse, said the decision was correct despite the loss of Labour votes today.

“I think the parliamentary party made the right decision,” Mr Howse told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “Labour would have in fact done worse under a different leadership.”

Mr Abbott, whose socially conservative views alienate many women voters but whose supporters say he can better empathise with Australian families, is his party’s third choice as leader since prime minister John Howard led it to defeat in 2007.

Mr Abbott beat his predecessor by a single vote last December in a party ballot.

He has long been seen as a gaffe-prone fitness enthusiast who is often lampooned in the media over the many images of him clad in Lycra cycling and swimming wear.