Anthony Albanese elected Australia’s leader in complex poll result

Needing 76 seats in the lower Parliamentary chamber, the House of Representatives, to govern in its own right, Labor on Sunday afternoon was being called the winner in 71, with 67% of votes counted, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp

There is still no clear answer as to whether Australia’s new prime minister Anthony Albanese will be able to form a majority government or have to rely on the support of an increased number of independents and minor party candidates who won seats in Saturday’s election (Rick Rycroft/AP)

There is still no clear answer as to whether Australia’s new prime minister Anthony Albanese will be able to form a majority government or have to rely on the support of an increased number of independents and minor party candidates who won seats in Saturday’s election.

With counting set to continue for many days as postal votes are tallied, one prospect that emerged was that Mr Albanese may need to be sworn in as acting prime minister to attend Tuesday’s Quad summit in Tokyo with US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.