Early voting in Australia election begins, PM Albanese's party holds slender lead

Alasdair Pal - Reuters - 22/04
Early voting in the Australian election began on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's centre-left Labor party holding a slim lead over the conservative opposition coalition.
SYDNEY, April 22 (Reuters) - Early voting in the Australian election began on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's centre-left Labor party holding a slim lead over the conservative opposition coalition.
A steady increase in early and postal voting means as many as half of eligible Australians will cast their ballots before the May 3 election date, according to data from the country's election commission.

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The beginning of voting coincides with a slump in popularity of the opposition Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton, who has struggled to shake off perceived ideological closeness to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Dutton was forced to abandon a policy that would have required federal government workers to return to the office full time while cutting tens of thousands of public sector jobs, seen as taking inspiration from Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), set up by Elon Musk.
Albanese has surged in the polls from a ...
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