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Australia opposition leader calls for PM resignation

Monday, 04 July 2016 8:12 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 04 July 2016 10:15 AM ]

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull addresses party supporters during a rally in Sydney, July 3, 2016. ©AFP

Australia's opposition leader has called for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to step down amid chaos over parliamentary elections which failed to produce a clear winner.

The result is a blow to Turnbull, who had dissolved both houses of the parliament in May and called for snap elections confident that his ruling coalition would clinch an outright win.

“Mr. Turnbull clearly doesn't know what he is doing. Quite frankly, I think he should quit," leader of the opposition Labor Party Bill Shorten said on Monday.

"He has taken this nation to an election on the basis of stability. He has delivered instability. ... The bloke is not up to the job," Shorten added.

The results of the dramatic parliamentary elections have raised the prospect of prolonged political and economic instability in Australia.

Shorten accused Turnbull of trying “to capitalize on the Brexit vote and say therefore, because of what happened in England, you had to vote for him in Australia."

"He [Turnbull] Brexited himself. This guy is like the [British Prime Minister] David Cameron of the southern hemisphere," he added.

Leader of the Australian Labor Party Bill Shorten © AFP

Last week, British people voted to leave the EU by a margin of 52 to 48 percent. When Cameron realized he had lost the referendum, he announced his resignation and left exit negotiations to his successor.

With about a quarter of the votes left to be tallied in Australia, neither Turnbull's coalition nor Shorten's center-left Labor Party has secured the required 76 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives to form a government.

As of Monday, Electoral Commission predictions give the coalition 67 seats in the 150-seat lower house, against Labor's 71 and five to independents and the Greens. Another 7 seats were in doubt.

Turnbull, who remained quietly confident of an eventual victory, said the ultimate result may not be known until the end of the week. The electoral commission, however, said it may take up to a month.

If the prime minister's coalition party fails to form a government, it would be the first time in 85 years an Australian ruling party has lost power after its first term in office.

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