Postal vote surprise: did Australia’s PM concede defeat too soon in Wentworth by-election?
- By-election triggered after Malcolm Turnbull, the local MP, resigned after being toppled in a party coup
- Vote count narrows sharply as postal ballots counted
As the count from a crucial Australian by-election spilled into Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison faced the possibility that his Liberal Party may have been too quick to concede a contest that would relegate his administration to a minority government.
Morrison became Australia’s sixth prime minister in 10 years in August after his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull fell victim to infighting among the Liberals, and the suspense over the count in the by-election for Sydney’s Wentworth constituency were in keeping with the unpredictable politics of recent times.
On Saturday, Morrison had surrendered the seat, previously held by Turnbull, after the early count showed a swing of more than 20 per cent away from the Liberals. But with a quarter of the ballots still to be counted on Sunday the Liberal candidate was just 900 votes behind.
The contest had gathered international attention after Morrison’s late attempt to garner support from Jewish voters, who account for 13 per cent of Wentworth’s electorate, by suggesting Australia could recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move its embassy there from Tel Aviv.
What impact that gambit had was unclear, but with his parliamentary majority hanging by a thread as the count continued, Morrison acknowledged that whatever the outcome, voters were clearly disillusioned with his party.
“The gap has closed by several hundred votes. There are still many postal votes to be counted,” Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
“But, that said, yesterday Liberal voters expressed their anger.”
