Australian Election a ’Dead Heat’

Local Editor

Australia braced for an election that was too close to call Friday, with PM Malcolm Turnbull warning of economic chaos if his gamble on an early poll backfires and leaves him without the outright majority he needs to enact major reforms.

The leader of Australia's conservative coalition prompted Saturday's election by dissolving both houses of parliament in May, blaming intransigent independents in the upper house Senate for blocking his agenda.

New polls Friday showed voters may return an even more unruly upper house.

Turnbull argued Friday that minor parties, possibly in coalition with center-left Labor, could not be trusted to manage an economy hampered by the first mining downturn in a century and balance public finances after years of deficits.

Turnbull, acknowledging that the contest was "really close," urged voters not to be cavalier.

"This is not a time to make a protest vote. This is a time to treat your vote as though that is the single vote that will determine the next government," he told reporters in Sydney.

Turnbull's coalition is facing a strong challenge from Labor, as well as from independents and minor parties like the Greens, who could win enough seats to hold the balance of power in the Senate or force a minority government in the lower house.

A Fairfax/Ipsos poll published Friday showed Labor and the coalition locked in a dead heat at 50-50, well within the 2.6% margin of error for the survey of 1,377 respondents taken between June 26 and 29.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team