Australian federal elections on Saturday as campaign ends

ANKARA

All is set for federal elections in Australia on Saturday where over 17 million Australians will elect their next prime minister as the election campaign ended on Friday.

A tough contest is expected between Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Liberal Party and opposition leader Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labour Party.

Under the election rules, voting is mandatory for people aged 18 and above, and over 17.2 million people are expected to cast their votes.

The voters will elect 151 members of parliament, and one of the two major parties needs to win 76 seats to form the next government.

Over 7,000 voting centers have been established with more than 105,000 personnel deployed across Australia, the Australian Electoral Commission said.

"With one day to go, more than 4.6 million Australians have voted at an early voting center, which is on track to easily eclipse the 2019 total of 4.7 million and set a new record," according to the electoral body.

While the election commission received 2.73 million postal votes, 25,000 people voted through the AEC mobile voting application.

"This means a combined 7.35 million people have accessed voting services ahead of election day, with one day to go," said the commission.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid