Labor Tipped to Win Queensland Majority as Poll Count Continues
Labor Favored to Maintain Power in Queensland as Count Continues
(Bloomberg) -- Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Labor government is favored to be returned to power in the Australian state as counting continues following the weekend’s tight election.
Analysts projected her party would win the highest number of seats, with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. predicting Labor will have just enough to form a majority government in the 93-seat parliament. The ABC reported Labor had won 46 and will likely gain another two, beating the Liberal National Party which will get as many as 40 seats. Vote counting may continue for days before a final outcome is established.
“More than likely Labor will hold on to government,” said Zareh Ghazarian, a Melbourne-based political analyst at Monash University. “This is a significant achievement for Palaszczuk. Her political stocks will go up following this performance.”
If returned, Palaszczuk will be the first female leader in Australian history to win two elections.
Uncertainty over the final result clouds the immediate future of the resource-rich state -- Australia’s third-largest by population. Also in question is Adani Group’s plan to build a A$16.5 billion ($12.6 billion) coal mine in Queensland, as the main parties disagreed on whether to back federal funding for a new rail link to carry coal to the coast.
“As soon as every vote is counted, then I will be talking to my colleagues about the future ministry,” Palaszczuk said on Sunday. “We are confident of a Labor majority.”
LNP leader Tim Nicholls, 52, said more than 360,000 postal votes still had to be counted, and the result would be determined by the seats in doubt.
“The Premier has not won a majority in her own right,” he said on Saturday night. “But let’s be realistic, nor have we.”
Palaszczuk, 48, said she’s not thinking about striking any deals with other parties after facing questions that she may need to if she does not secure a majority government. While there remains a chance that Labor would need an alliance with the Katter’s Australian Party in that event, she had ruled out looking to support from the anti-Muslim immigration One Nation party.
One Nation had been expected to pick up a clutch of seats in the weekend’s election, but appears to have fallen short as its leader Steve Dickson failed to win his seat.
The ABC’s election analyst Antony Green said One Nation and the Greens will win one seat each, with Katter’s Australian Party taking two seats and one going to an independent.
--With assistance from Jason Scott
To contact the reporters on this story: Edward Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net, Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edward Johnson at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net, John McCluskey
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