Australians, in Election Limbo, Prefer Labor-Led Government, Poll Shows

Australian voters, entering their third week without a result in a federal election, prefer the incumbent Labor Party to form a minority government, a poll released today shows.

About 47 percent of 1,134 voters polled throughout Australia between Aug. 27 and 29 want Prime Minister Julia Gillard returned to power, with 39 percent supporting Liberal- National coalition leader Tony Abbott and 14 percent undecided, according to the Newspoll survey conducted for the Australian newspaper.

The poll will buoy Gillard, who has been courting the support of three independents since the Aug. 21 election deadlock to gain the 76 seats she needs to form government. Labor holds 71 seats in the 150-member lower house, while Abbott’s coalition has 73 seats, according to the Australian Electoral Commission website at 1:45 p.m. Sydney time today after 87 percent of the national vote had been counted.

Gillard’s chances of forming a government were boosted in the past week when she won the support of Greens member Adam Bandt and independent Andrew Wilkie, bringing her total seats to 73.

Tony Windsor, one of three independents who will decide who leads Australia, has returned to his electorate to chose whether Gillard or Abbott should form a government, with an announcement expected from him Sept. 6 or 7.

Windsor, Robert Oakeshott and Bob Katter have been briefed by government officials on each side’s plans to manage the A$1.2 trillion ($1 trillion) economy.

Vote counting will continue next week, Australian Electoral Commission spokesman Phil Diak said by phone yesterday. One month from the election is usually needed to complete counting and declare outcomes in Parliament’s two houses, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Scott in Perth at jscott14@bloomberg.net

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