Counting continues after the weekend election in Tasmania, with Liberal Premier Peter Gutwein reiterating he'll stand down if his party doesn't secure majority.
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The Liberal Party has won a historic third term in Tasmania, though it is yet to be confirmed if it will govern in majority.
With around 70 per cent of the vote counted at midnight on Sunday, the Liberals had at least 12 seats, one short of a majority in Tasmania’s 25-member lower house.
Labor had seven seats, the Greens two and four were still in doubt.
In Tasmania s Hare-Clark voting system, there are five electorates and five candidates are voted to each electorate. The proportional representation model makes it difficult for governments to achieve landslides.
Labor leader Rebecca White conceded defeat just before 10pm on Saturday, congratulating the Liberals for achieving a strong result.
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Some people will be casting a ballot in an Australian election for the very first time, including refugee Karna Gurung.
“[My partner and I] spent many years in Bhutan, but then we had to go to Nepal because of some political problems,” he told SBS News.
“We spent 22 years as refugees in Nepal in a camp. We didn’t have any identity in Nepal, then we came to Australia and finally got citizenship.
“We are Australian now, and it is exciting for me to vote.”
Karna Gurung will vote in an Australian election for the first time on Saturday.
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Tasmanians are voting today in an early election where leaders of the two major parties have pledged not to govern in minority.
The Liberal government is seeking a historic third term on Saturday after calling the election a year ahead of schedule.
But there is an increasing feeling the level of support for the Labor opposition, and high-profile independents in the Hobart electorate of Clark, could result in a hung parliament.
Premier Peter Gutwein, who has said the Liberals won t try to govern in minority, voted alongside wife Amanda in Launceston. Voters have a choice between certainty, stability and a majority Liberal government or a minority government that will take us backwards, he told reporters.
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Tasmanian Liberal Premier Peter Gutwein is gambling on an early election to cash in on his government’s popularity due to its management of the COVID pandemic.
It is a reasonable strategy, given how voters in Queensland and Western Australia have rewarded their governments in recent months.
Mr Gutwein announced the 1 May election on 26 March – a year earlier than it is due. This was possible because, while Tasmania has a four-year maximum term, it does not have a fixed term, unlike all other states and territories.
In 2018 the Liberals, under then-Premier Will Hodgman, were returned to government with a bare majority of 13 of the 25 members of the lower house. Mr Gutwein took over the premiership following Hodgman’s resignation in January 2020.