Australia election result too close to predict

 
0 CommentsPrint E-mail Xinhua, August 20, 2010
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Opinion polls on Friday showed the Australian federal election was too close to call amid a furious race to the finish by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

Australian Labor Party and the Coalition have been locked together with 50 percent each of the two party preferred vote one day before the federal election, the latest Newspoll showed on Friday.

But a Galaxy poll, published in the Herald Sun newspaper, predicted a narrow Labor win with a 52-48 two party preferred result.

The Newspoll result, published in The Australian newspaper on Friday, means Labor has given up the two-point lead it had in the last Newspoll, published on Monday.

It means Labor's support has dropped to the same level as the period just before Kevin Rudd was deposed as leader in June, the newspaper said.

On primary votes, Labor is down three points from earlier this week to 35 percent. The coalition has gained three points, and is now on 38 percent. Support for The Greens is steady on 14 percent - - twice the result it got in the 2007 election.

The figures are preliminary results of the poll of 2500 voters nationally, taken on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Galaxy poll, which interviewed 1,200 voters on Tuesday, put Labor ahead 52 percent to 48 percent, two party preferred.

On primary votes, Labor is steady on 38 percent since the last Galaxy poll two weeks ago, with the coalition up one point to 42 percent and The Greens steady at 14 percent. The poll suggested most voters had no strong conviction for either of the major parties.

Only 16 percent of those polled said that if Labor won, it was because the party deserved to be re-elected, while 56 percent said it would be re-elected because it was a better alternative than the coalition.

When asked why the coalition would win if it won, 28 percent of those polled said it would be because it deserved to win, while 48 percent said a coalition win would happen because it was a better alternative to Labor.

Australian general election was set on this Saturday.

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