Australians are heading to the polls in the country's national election.
Conservative Tony Abbott is expected to oust Labor Prime Minister Kevin
Rudd, with a controversial carbon tax taking center stage.
Some 14.7 million people were taking part in Saturday's mandatory vote.
Last-minute opinion polls showed Abbott (pictured above right) was on
track for a landslide victory. A Newspoll published by The Australian,
and the Sydney Morning Herald's Nielson poll both had the challenger's
Liberal/National coalition ahead 54 to 46 percent.
Labor are projected to lose 14 to 32 seats in the country's 150-member lower House of Representatives. The conservatives are expected to win a majority of more than 90 seats.
Carbon tax central issue
The election is likely to spell the end of Rudd's time as Prime Minister. He has seen his popularity erode after years of party instability and infighting, combined with an unpopular carbon tax on polluters.
Abbott has dubbed the election the "referendum on the carbon tax" as part of his vow to end the controversial measure. Many Australians believe that companies who are forced to pay the tax are passing those extra costs onto their customers.
According to a Galaxy survey in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, an overwhelming 78 percent of people surveyed said that Abbott had run a better campaign, compared to just 8 percent for Rudd. Despite the uphill battle, Rudd, who only defeated Prime Minister Julia Gillard in June, has refused to give up.
"I've seen those sorts of gaps made up in the past, I think there are so many people undecided out there about what Mr. Abbott's massive [government] cuts mean to them," Rudd said before voting began.
Australia's Labor party has been in office since 2007, first under Rudd, then Gillard, and then under Rudd again since earlier this summer.
Cautious challenger
Abbott was cautious during the final moments of the campaign, saying with the aid of a sports analogy that it was too early to start celebrating.
"It's like being in a grand final, five minutes to go, only a goal or two in it, anything could happen," he said. "If it happens I will be extraordinarily conscious of the heavy burden of responsibilities, of duties, that will have descended on my shoulders."
"Inevitably, anyone who is suddenly given a big job, even if you have been preparing for it for years and you know you are ready for it, when it happens, if it happens, you are conscious of being on a great threshold," Abbott added.
dr/lw (AFP, AP)
Labor are projected to lose 14 to 32 seats in the country's 150-member lower House of Representatives. The conservatives are expected to win a majority of more than 90 seats.
Carbon tax central issue
The election is likely to spell the end of Rudd's time as Prime Minister. He has seen his popularity erode after years of party instability and infighting, combined with an unpopular carbon tax on polluters.
Abbott has dubbed the election the "referendum on the carbon tax" as part of his vow to end the controversial measure. Many Australians believe that companies who are forced to pay the tax are passing those extra costs onto their customers.
According to a Galaxy survey in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, an overwhelming 78 percent of people surveyed said that Abbott had run a better campaign, compared to just 8 percent for Rudd. Despite the uphill battle, Rudd, who only defeated Prime Minister Julia Gillard in June, has refused to give up.
"I've seen those sorts of gaps made up in the past, I think there are so many people undecided out there about what Mr. Abbott's massive [government] cuts mean to them," Rudd said before voting began.
Australia's Labor party has been in office since 2007, first under Rudd, then Gillard, and then under Rudd again since earlier this summer.
Cautious challenger
Abbott was cautious during the final moments of the campaign, saying with the aid of a sports analogy that it was too early to start celebrating.
"It's like being in a grand final, five minutes to go, only a goal or two in it, anything could happen," he said. "If it happens I will be extraordinarily conscious of the heavy burden of responsibilities, of duties, that will have descended on my shoulders."
"Inevitably, anyone who is suddenly given a big job, even if you have been preparing for it for years and you know you are ready for it, when it happens, if it happens, you are conscious of being on a great threshold," Abbott added.
dr/lw (AFP, AP)
