The Latest: Voting ends in Australian election

By Associated Press 19 May 2019, 12:00AM

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Latest on Australia's general election (all times local):

8:25 p.m.

Voting has ended in Australia's general election, with some senior opposition lawmakers confident they'll form a center-left government with a focus on slashing greenhouse gas emissions.

Opinion polls suggest the conservative Liberal Party-led coalition will lose its bid for a third three-year term and Scott Morrison will have had one of the shortest tenures as prime minister in the 118-year history of the Australian federation.

Morrison is the conservatives' third prime minister since they were first elected in 2013. He replaced Malcolm Turnbull in a leadership ballot of government colleagues in August.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten said he expected that Labor would start governing from Sunday. He said his top priorities would be to increase wages for low-paid workers, hike pay rates for working Sundays and reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.

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6:20 p.m.

Votes are being counted after Saturday's Australian election, with senior opposition lawmakers gaining confidence they will form a center-left government with a focus on slashing greenhouse gas emissions.

A Galaxy exit poll found that the opposition Labor Party could win as many as 82 seats in the 151-seat House of Representatives, where parties need a majority to form government.

Polling booths in Australia's eastern states, where most of the 25 million population lives, closed at 6 p.m. Polls close on the west coast two hours later.

Opinion polls suggest the conservative Liberal Party-led coalition will lose its bid for a third three-year term and Scott Morrison will have had one of the shortest tenures as prime minister in the 118-year history of the Australian federation.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten had said Saturday morning he was confident Labor would win, but Morrison would not be drawn on a prediction.

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8 a.m.

Polling stations have opened in eastern Australia in elections that are likely to deliver the nation's sixth prime minister in as many years.

Opinion polls suggest the conservative Liberal Party-led coalition will lose its bid for a third three-year term at the election on Saturday and Scott Morrison will have had one of the shortest tenures as prime minister in the 118-year history of the Australian federation.

Morrison is the conservatives' third prime minister since they were first elected in 2013. He replaced Malcolm Turnbull in a leadership ballot of government colleagues in August.

The center-left Labor Party opposition under its leader Bill Shorten has been campaigning hard on more ambitious targets to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.

By Associated Press 19 May 2019, 12:00AM

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