MELBOURNE, Australia — Australians started voting Tuesday at common elections as campaigning was overshadowed by the demise of Pope Francis.
Polling stations opened to voters who for quite a lot of causes shall be unable to vote on Could 3. Round half the votes are anticipated to be solid earlier than the election date.
Each Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and opposition chief Peter Dutton cancelled marketing campaign occasions deliberate for Tuesday out of respect for the late pontiff.
Flags have been flown at half workers from authorities buildings throughout the nation the place a 2021 census discovered 20% of the inhabitants have been Catholics.
Albanese was raised as a Catholic however selected to be sworn in as prime minister when he was elected in 2022 by making a secular affirmation moderately than by taking an oath on a Bible.
Albanese attended a Mass in honor of the pope in Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Tuesday morning.
“I strive to not discuss my religion in public,” Albanese informed reporters.
“At instances like this, I feel what individuals do is that they draw on who they’re and positively my Catholicism is simply part of me,” he added.
Albanese and Dutton, who leads the conservative Liberal Celebration, will meet in Sydney later Tuesday for the third televised leaders’ debate of the marketing campaign.
A fourth debate is deliberate Sunday.
Dutton, who was raised by a Catholic father and Protestant mom and attended an Anglican college, deliberate to go to a church service in Sydney.
“I don’t assume it’s a day for overt politicking in any respect. I feel that the day is finest spent reflecting,” Dutton informed Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“I don’t assume there’s a spot for the physique blows of politics at this time. I feel it’s a really completely different day from that,” Dutton added.
Albanese’s center-left Labor Celebration is looking for a second three-year time period.
The federal government held a slender majority of 78 seats out of 151 within the Home of Representatives the place events type administrations throughout its first time period.
The decrease chamber will shrink to 150 seats after the election on account of redistributions.
The key events are each predicting an in depth election outcome.
