Australia’s opposition leader Anthony Albanese defeated the current Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the national election. He will be the next Prime Minister of Australia. The results of the election were declared on Saturday 21st May 2022. Australia’s Labor Party is set to take power for the first time since 2013, as voters booted out Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government. This change is seen as a mandate for bringing in greater action on climate change, women’s issues, and anti-corruption efforts.
Morrison conceded defeat on Saturday night and congratulated Anthony Albanese on the victory for the Labor Party, which was closing in on a majority in the 151-seat parliament. According to the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Labor Party won at least 72 seats while Morrison’s Liberal-National Coalition went on to secure 52 seats. The rest of the seats were won by the third front and the independent candidates.
Scott Morrison said, “In this country, at a time like this, when we look around the world, and particularly when we see those in Ukraine fighting for their very freedom and liberty, I think on a night like tonight we can reflect on the greatness of our democracy. I congratulate Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party and I wish him and his government all the very best.”
Albanese had focused his campaign on ending Australia’s ‘climate wars’, adopting more ambitious emissions targets, and introducing a federal corruption watchdog but he had refused calls to phase out coal use or to block the opening of new coal mines. As soon as Anthony Albanese won the elections, he announced, “We can take advantage of the opportunity for Australia to be a renewable energy superpower.”
Australia’s high commissioner to India Barry O’Farrell AO tweeted, “Australia’s Prime Minister-elect Anthony Albanese is no stranger to India having travelled the country as a backpacker in 1991 and led a parliamentary delegation in 2018. During the campaign, he committed to deepening economic, strategic, and people-to-people links between India and Australia.”
Australia’s Prime Minister-elect @AlboMP is no stranger to India having travelled the country as a backpacker in 1991 and led a parliamentary delegation in 2018. During the campaign he committed to deepen 🇮🇳🇦🇺 economic, strategic and people-to-people links. #democracy #dosti
— Barry O’Farrell AO (@AusHCIndia) May 21, 2022
In Australia, voting was held for 151 seats in the lower chamber. It takes 76 seats to form the government. There are two houses in Australia. The term of the Upper House is for 6 years. The term of the lower house is three years. Elections are held every three years. Six candidates were in the race for the post of Prime Minister in Australia, but the primary contest was between Morrison and Albanese. Morrison fell short of an absolute majority in the 2019 election but he managed to form the government together with smaller parties. Australia’s Prime Minister-elect Anthony Albanese will now travel to Tokyo for the Quad Summit. In Japan, he will hold bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Quad Summit.
