Australian election: Coalition pulls ahead as counting continues
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is confident of forming a government. With special feature audio.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is confident of forming a government. With special feature audio.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he is confident of forming a government as further results trickle out from the Australian Electoral Commission.
At the latest count (80.6%) on the ABC website, Labor holds 67 decided seats and the Liberal National Coalition 70. Another five are held by the Greens and independents.
That leaves eight undecided seats, all held by the Coalition.
The ABC's election analyst Antony Green projects a total 73 seats for the Coalition, three short of an absolute majority.
Mr Green says his count is superior to the AEC's, which he says excludes seats that have clearly been won by either of the main parties.
This is because the AEC says these seats do not have significant preference votes and it won't declare seats until two-candidate preference votes are counted.
[UPDATED at 1800hrs, July 6]
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