Poll authorities say Australia’s governing party trailing opposition in early vote counting

Australian governing party trailing in vote count

CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian Electoral Commission says the governing Labor Party is trailing the opposition coalition in early vote counting.

The commission says that with 12.7 percent of the vote counted from Saturday’s general elections, Labor is trailing the conservative Liberal Party-led coalition 49.2 percent to 50.8 percent — a swing of 3.5 percent from the popular vote that Labor received in the last elections in 2007.

Labor could lose the government with a swing away of less than 3 percent.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australians chose between electing their fourth prime minister in three years or sticking with their first woman leader in a tight race Saturday that pit her against a conservative male challenger just two months after she took power.

Julia Gillard, a 48-year-old former lawyer with a common law hairdresser spouse, came to power in a June 24 internal coup in her center-left Labor Party during the first term of her predecessor, and almost immediately called elections to confirm her mandate.

She was vying against Tony Abbott, a married 52-year-old former Roman Catholic seminarian with three daughters who barely gained the endorsement eight months ago of his own conservative Liberal Party, which has led Australia for most of the last 60 years.

A relaxed Abbott voted at a beachside polling booth in his Sydney electoral district early Saturday and then helped barbecue bacon, eggs and sausages at a breakfast to raise money for his volunteer life guard club.

“This is a big day for our country,” Abbott said. “It’s a day when we can vote out a bad government.”

Gillard continued campaigning Saturday morning in key Sydney districts at risk of swinging to the conservatives before flying to her home in Melbourne to vote.

She was unable to vote for herself, because a redrawing of election boundaries has meant that she no longer lives in her own working-class electoral division.

“This is going to be hard fought right around the country,” Gillard told Seven Network television.

A Newspoll survey published Saturday predicted a neck-and-neck race, with the one-term Labor Party expected to take 50.2 percent of the vote compared to the Liberal Party-led coalition’s 49.8 percent. Newspoll has correctly predicted the previous 48 federal and state elections it has surveyed since 1985.

Exit polls conducted on Saturday by market research companies Morgan Poll and Auspoll both gave Labor a 2 percentage point lead over the opposition at 51 percent.

Counting started in East Australia two hours before polls closed on the west coast.

Australians have not dumped a first-term government since 1931 when a Labor administration paid the ultimate price for the Great Depression. However, this year’s elections are colored by Gillard’s surprise seizure of the helm of her party from former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd after a series of poor opinion polls.

Gillard, a Welsh-born immigrant who grew up in the southern Australian city of Adelaide, said Labor could lose its entire eight-seat majority in the 150-seat House of Representatives where parties form governments. Labor won 83 seats at the last election in 2007.

At a voting station in a high school in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, Wayne Crompton, 64, said he was supporting the local girl.

“I don’t trust the other guy,” he said after voting Saturday. “They’re all politicians and they all tell lies, but I would think personally, I vote Labor through and through.”

He said Labor would best address the problems of low water supplies to the state of South Australia and the national problem of a rising surge of illegal immigrants arriving by boat.

Issues vary across the large and diverse country, but asylum seekers, health care and climate change are hot topics nationwide. Another issue brought to the forefront Saturday was the presence of the Australian military in Afghanistan, where two soldiers were killed the day before. The government and opposition both support Australia’s military commitment to Afghanistan, where 20 Australian troops have now died.

Gillard and Abbott both sent their condolences to the families and praised the sacrifice of the soldiers.

Abbott has raised the possibility of increasing Australia’s commitment to Afghanistan above the 1,550 troops now there if his coalition wins government.

At a news conference to announce the deaths, Defense Minister John Faulkner said his government would maintain current troop levels if re-elected.

“I have consistently said that I believe that the contribution that Australia is making is about right,” Faulkner told reporters.

The decision by Labor power-brokers to support Gillard — a cheerfully charismatic and sharp-witted woman widely regarded as a better communicator than Rudd — cost the party the traditional incumbent’s advantage.

Abbott, whose socially conservative views alienate many women voters but whose supporters say he can better empathize with Australian families, is his party’s third choice as leader since Prime Minister John Howard led it to defeat in 2007. Abbott beat his predecessor by a single vote last December in a party ballot.

Abbott has long been seen as a gaffe-prone fitness enthusiast who is often lampooned in the media over the many images of him clad in Lycra cycling and swimming wear.

But for Jodie Waterhouse, a 31-year-old housewife and longtime Liberal supporter, it is Abbott’s work-life balance that won her vote.

“I do care about paid maternity leave, education and the environment,” said the mother of a toddler and 5-month-old twins in Adelaide. “But I suppose I vote because I like the person and the balance they deliver, and I think Tony Abbott is delivering that as much as any politician can. It sounds funny, I know, but I like that he’s into exercise, I like the personal balance.”

Associated Press Writer Tanalee Smith in Adelaide, Australia, contributed to this report.