Australia may well have its first hung Parliament since 1940 !
Neither side gained the necessary 76-seat majority to form government. With 4 Independents, and a first-ever Green member (not to mention the first ever Indigenous member and the youngest-ever (a "schoolkid" of 20) member on the Coalition's side), the remaining 145 seats may be split 72 : 73 between Labor and the Coalition. Counting is continuing and final results for the last few seats may not be known for days, if not weeks.
The Coalition attracted 400,000 more primary votes than Labor and claims that it has the moral ground to govern the country. The Consitution is silent on the question of a hung Parliament so the question of who will govern needs to be decided on the floor of the House. However, Parliament cannot be recalled until all seats have been decided. With several seats extremely close, the count, and possible re-count, could take weeks. It could even involve a High Court challenge!
There was also a huge "Green slide" in the Senate which gives the Greens the balance of power. Welcome to the Age of Uncertainty!
I predict another election within a year!
