Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 25, 1990 TAG: 9003251933
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA LENGTH: Medium
Instead, three-term Labor Party Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Liberal Party coalition challenger Andrew Peacock both announced that they expect to win when final votes, including mailed and absentee ballot, are counted.
Because of the tight race, analysts said that whoever wins will inherit a crippled government with no mandate. Even worse, they said, the race may produce a straight party split in Parliament, with a political deadlock rendering governing nigh impossible.
Meeting reporters early today, Hawke predicted that he will win another three years as prime minister even if his aides' worst-case scenario proves true. He has been prime minister since 1983.
"We're quite confident," Hawke, 60, told cheering supporters in a hotel ballroom in Melbourne. "I believe I will be in a position to form the fourth Hawke Labor government."
But moments later, at another Melbourne hotel, Peacock refused to concede defeat and instead insisted that the final count, including mailed and absentee ballots, will favor his party instead.
"We are quite optimistic," Peacock, 51, told supporters in another ballroom. "We believe we'll shortly be in a position to form a government."
After a bitter five-week campaign and a nail-biting election night, the dueling candidates agreed on only one thing at the end: The real winner may not be clear until late in the week.
Counting is complicated by Australia's balloting system, in which voters choose candidates by order of numerical preference. Second-choice preferences are added until one wins a majority. Voting is compulsory under law.
With 148 seats in the lower house of Parliament, a party needs to win at least 75 seats to hold a majority and form a government.
by CNB