Canberra, May 3 (UNI) Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's center-left Labor Party has won a second term in power in Australia's federal election, according to projections from the national public broadcaster.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Saturday night projected that Labor will win more of the 150 seats in the lower house of the 48th parliament, where the government is formed, than the conservative coalition of the Liberal and National Parties.
It made Albanese the first leader of either major party to win consecutive elections since 2004.
According to ABC projections, coalition leader Peter Dutton has lost his seat in northern Brisbane amid widespread losses for the conservative party across Australia. It made Dutton the first opposition leader to lose his seat at a federal election in Australian history.
The official count conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission had declared Labor as the winner in 70 seats as of 9:30 p.m. local time, with the party leading in five more and the count too early to be attributed to any party in 25 seats.
It said that the coalition had won 27 seats and was leading the vote count in another six.
Addressing supporters at an election night event in Brisbane, Dutton said that he had called Albanese to concede defeat.
"We didn't do well enough during this campaign, that much is obvious tonight, and I accept full responsibility," he said.
Dutton's defeat in his seat, which he had held since 2001, means that members of the Liberal Party, the senior partner in the coalition, will have to elect a new party leader to serve as the opposition leader in the 48th parliament.
On Saturday, polls opened at over 7,000 locations across Australia, with voters set to decide if Albanese's center-left Labor Party will govern for a second term or if the conservative coalition of the Liberal and National Parties, led by Dutton, will win power.
Voting in the election is mandatory for all Australian citizens aged 18 and over who are registered on the electoral roll maintained by the Australian Electoral Commission, with those who fail to do so facing small administrative fines.
When Australians vote in federal elections, they fill in two ballot papers, one for the lower house of the federal parliament, the House of Representatives, and one for the upper house, the Senate.
All 150 seats in the lower house will be filled at the election as well as 40 out of 76 seats in the Senate. Each lower house seat represents an electorate, geographic divisions that each contain approximately the same number of voters, while senators represent their state or territory.
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