Australia prime minister declares win in marathon election

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declared victory on Sunday in a marathon national election, with his coalition government retaining power after a concession call from the opposition leader, Bill Shorten.

The concession by Shorten came eight days after the polls finished, because of extremely close results in a few key marginal seats, and six seats still remain undecided.

Voting counting continues into an eight day, with Turnbull’s coalition expected to win two of the five seats still in doubt, enabling it to form a majority government, after having won 74 of the 150 lower house seats up for grabs in the poll.

Turnbull said: “This is a great day today ... to thank the Australian people for the decisions they’ve taken in this election and to commit to them anew our absolutely unrelenting determination to ensure this parliament delivers good government, wise legislation, and builds on the strength of our economy so that, truly, our greatest days are yet ahead of us.”

He said the ministers would be sworn in next week, and the first party room meeting would be held on Monday, 18 July.

Although he is expected to form a majority government, Turnbull's gamble in calling the election backfired badly, with a swing to the center-left Labor opposition and a rise in the popularity of minor parties and independents.

Turnbull's narrow margin of victory over Labor leaves him likely to be forced to rely on independents, who won five seats, to ensure the passage of legislation. That raises questions about how effective his government will be in the long term.

Labor, on course to win 69 seats, conceded defeat.

“It is clear that Mr Turnbull and his coalition will form a government,” its leader, Bill Shorten, told a news conference.

Turnbull cited the fact that the Coalition had received 800,000 more first preference votes than Labor, led in two-party preferred terms and had won more seats, despite the results not having been finalised.

Labor vowed not to unduly disrupt the new parliament, although it and several independents oppose much of the coalition's jobs and growth agenda, from how to return to budget surplus to a proposal for a A$50-billion ($38 billion) corporate tax break.

Turnbull said there would be some changes to the ministry, because some ministers had lost their seats, but said they would not be on a “large scale”, which means a return to the front bench for the former prime minister Tony Abbott is unlikely.

Turnbull said the Australian Electoral Commission had yet to finish the count and determine the new senators, some of who had “open minds and remain to be convinced on the merits of either side of the argument”.

Shorten conceded that although counting had “not finished in a number of very close contests”, the Liberal-National Coalition would be re-elected either as a minority government or with a slim one- or two-seat majority.

He said he had called the prime minister to congratulate him on Sunday afternoon, and promised that “where there is common ground we will work very hard to accomplish it”.

However, Shorten warned that, although he accepted the government had the numbers to push through some elements of its platform, the opposition would “stick to its guns” on key policy areas, including its commitment to the universal healthcare service Medicare, schools funding and jobs.

Turnbull welcomed Shorten’s promise to seek to reach common ground. “It is vital that this parliament works,” he said.

“It is vital that we work together and as far as we can find ways on which we can all agree, consistent with the policies we’ve taken to the election and our political principles, that meet the great challenges Australia faces.”