Australian leader claims election win, but questions remain

SYDNEY (AP) — Eight days after Australia’s general election ended in uncertainty, the prime minister finally claimed victory Sunday for his conservative coalition, bringing an end to the country’s political paralysis — at least for the moment.

Mr Shorten said the Australian people appreciate authenticity and would respect Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull “if he stuck to his own views before he became Liberal leader”.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said that while he says he will work constructively with the Government, there are several areas where Labor will try to block legislation.

But the Coalition is still confident it can still make up 76 seats to form a majority government.

As he declared his victory to the public, Mr Turnbull said Australians had given the Coalition the mandate to deliver on the 2016 budget handed down just a week before the election was called.

If that happens, Turnbull’s Liberal Party-led coalition will need to forge an alliance with independent and minor party lawmakers to form a minority government.

Turnbull has won the support of three independent MPs on budget matters and on votes of no confidence. The ABC predicts Labor will win 69 districts, with the remaining five going to independents or minor parties.

“The truth is it was a winning campaign we won the election, now whether we won the election by two seats or by 20 seats that campaign got us across the line”, he said.

Earlier in April, Turnbull scheduled early elections for July 2 and ordered the dissolution of Parliament after the upper house rejected a law passed by the lower house for the second time.

Some conservative members of the Liberal Party blame their centrist leader for a loss in votes that left them perilously close to conceding power, putting pressure on Turnbull to reverse unpopular policies like changes to state pensions.

76 seats are needed to form a government without the need of post-election coalition.

For all of the talk about the importance of the cross benches, the greatest influence on the potential performance of the Turnbull government will be the Labor opposition under Mr Shorten.

“It’s vital that this parliament works”.

Turnbull later welcomed Shorten’s offer to find “common ground”, underlining the need for “goodwill in this new parliament”.

Turnbull said there would be some changes to the ministry, because some ministers had lost their seats, but said they would not be on a “large scale”, which means a return to the front bench for the former prime minister Tony Abbott is unlikely.

“To go over to a whole electronic voting system … at the next election when we’ve never done that before at any level of government seems to be not a good way to approach something that’s so important”, she said.

“I expect them to do nothing less than to keep their promises they made to the Australian people”, he said.

“It will be a new parliament and I believe a very exciting and constructive one”, he said.

When asked how likely another election would be held within 12 months, 51 per cent of voters said it was likely while 28 per cent said not likely.