The Labor Party of Anthony Albanese won the legislative elections in Australia on Saturday, ousting Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose inaction against climate change was severely punished by voters.
Mr. Albanese, 59, was not certain late Saturday evening of obtaining the absolute majority in the House of Representatives which would allow him to govern without having to find allies.
But, assured of the largest number of MPs, he proclaimed his victory, saying that Australians had “voted for change”, and indicated that he would take office on Monday. He then announced his participation in the Quad Summit (United States, India, Japan, Australia) scheduled for Tuesday in Tokyo with his future Minister of Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong.
“Tonight I spoke to the Leader of the Opposition and the new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and congratulated him on his election victory,” Mr Morrison said.
According to projections by the ABC channel after counting more than half of the votes, the Labor Party won 72 deputies out of 151, four seats less than an absolute majority.
After three years marked by major natural disasters and the pandemic, Australians have voted in an unusual number of “small” pro-environment candidates, who could hold the keys to power by negotiating their support for Mr Albanese if he does not. did not reach an absolute majority.
The acclaimed “teals”
The Green Party and independent candidates dubbed “teals” — mostly women advocating environmental protection, gender equality and anti-corruption — were poised to win a string urban ridings traditionally held by the Conservatives.
“People have said that the climate crisis is something they want to do something about,” exulted Adam Bandt, leader of the Green Party.
“We just had three years of drought, then fires and now floods and more floods. People can see it, it’s happening, it’s getting worse,” he added.
The defeat of Mr. Morrison ends nine years of Tory rule over the huge country-continent.
The election campaign focused on the personalities of Mr. Morrison and Albanese, relegating political ideas to the background.
But young Australians are increasingly frustrated with the government’s pro-coal policies, the difficulty in finding affordable housing and the misuse of public money.
“I grew up in a community that has been very badly affected by fires and floods over the past five years,” Jordan Neville, who was voting for the first time, said at a Melbourne polling station. “If anything could be done to prevent this from happening again, that would be amazing.”
Mr Morrison had resisted calls to cut Australia’s CO2 emissions faster by 2030, and was a strong supporter of the coal industry, one of the driving forces of the country’s economy.
Lagging behind in the polls for a year, he had taken advantage of the economic recovery and an unemployment rate currently at its lowest in 48 years. He had portrayed his Labor rival as a “free spirit” unfit to lead the economy.
But he suffered from low personal popularity and accusations of dishonesty. He also caused a monumental diplomatic quarrel between Canberra and Paris, breaking in favor of Washington a mega contract for French submarines last summer.
“The defeat of the Prime Minister suits me very well,” reacted Saturday the former French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian. “The actions taken at the time they were taken were brutal and cynical, and I would even be tempted to say notorious incompetence,” he said.
Anthony Albanese, from the working classes and raised by a single mother in Sydney council housing, will be Australia’s first head of government not to have an Anglo-Saxon or Celtic surname.
He pledged to end Australia’s lag in tackling climate change, help people facing soaring prices and strengthen indigenous peoples’ participation in shaping national policy . He promised to make his country a “superpower” in terms of renewable energies.
But he may now have to strike deals with candidates demanding tougher climate action to govern, risking the ire of pro-coal and mining union factions in his party.