Prospect of Hung Parliament Looms in Australia as Labor Continues to Trail in Latest Survey
The Greens or other smaller political parties in Australia could play kingmaker in September when the country holds it election. The bigger role that a third political party will play looms because of the prospect that the country could have a hung parliament.
A hung parliament happens when no political party gains majority votes, making it necessary for one party to coalesce with a smaller party to gain majority control of Parliament. That was the situation in Britain when David Cameron's Tory party failed to secure majority against Gordon Brown's Labour Party, making it necessary for the Tories to join forces with Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrat Party.
The 2010 election in Australia resulted in a tie for the two major parties, making it necessary for Labor, led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, to enter into a coalition with four out of six independent parties and Greens crossbenchers.
That prospect again looms when Australia holds it federal election on Sept 14 since latest poll indicate that Ms Gillard as choice of preferred prime minister was at 29 per cent while Opposition leader Tony Abbott logged 48 per cent.
Analysts said the latest poll indicate that Labor stands to lose about 30 seats.
The release of the Newspoll survey came after the challenge to Ms Gillard's leadership of the Labor party died down when former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd refused to bite the bait of followers to have another showdown with the current PM in a party caucus.
Major cabinet minister Stephen Smith, Stephen Conroy and Brendan O'connor continue to back up Ms Gillard who has refused to step down as party leader.
However, while polls may indicate a Coalition lead, the possibility of a hung Parliament still looms because Ms Gillard may still surprise Australia as more female voters are showing their support for the country's first female prime minister following the cleavage war she triggered last week.
After a female columnist criticised Ms Gillard's show of her cleavage in Parliament, Aussie women showed their support for the PM by flooding Facebook with selfies of their cleavages, indicating that the PM, often seen as a very strong person, could also win the support of the female vote given the right issue.
