SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia’s island state of Tasmania appeared headed for a minority government on Sunday as vote counting continued after an election that did not produce a clear winner.
The conservative Liberal government was on track to win more seats than the main Labor opposition in the new parliament but would likely fall short of a majority after Saturday’s election, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The strong performance by the Liberals under Jeremy Rockliff, premier since 2022, comes after the party suffered a heavy defeat at May’s national election, which saw Anthony Albanese-led Labor returned for a second term with an increased majority.
Rockliff said in televised remarks from state capital Hobart that Saturday’s vote showed Tasmanians “have no confidence in the Labor party to form government and they have voted to reindorse our Liberal government”.
The result for Labor, on track to win nine seats out of a possible 35, was shaping up as the worst-ever result for the party in Tasmania, Guardian Australia reported.
The election, triggered by a no-confidence vote against Rockliff, came less than two years after the state’s most recent poll in which the Liberals were unable to win a majority of seats.
Tasmania is the only Australian state that uses proportional representation to elect its lower house and has a long history of minority governments.
The southern state is a one-hour flight or 10-hour ferry crossing from the mainland city of Melbourne, 445 km (275 miles) away. Forty percent of the island is wilderness or protected areas.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
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