Australians start voting in general elections as pope’s death overshadows campaigning
MELBOURNE: As the death of Pope Francis overshadowed campaigning, Australians started their ballots in federal elections on Tuesday. Voters who cannot cast ballots on May 3 for several reasons can now access polling places. Around 50% of the votes are expected to be cast before the election day.
In observance of the late Pope, opposition leader Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese both canceled Tuesday’s campaign activities.
Half-staff flags were flown from government buildings nationwide, where a 2021 census revealed that 20% of people were Catholic.
When Albanese was elected prime minister in 2022, he made a secular affirmation instead of taking an oath on a Bible, despite having been reared as a Catholic.
On Tuesday morning, Albanese went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne for a Mass honoring the pope.
Albanese said, “I try not to talk about my faith in public,” to reporters.
“At times like this, I think what people do is they draw on who they are and certainly my Catholicism is just a part of me,” he said.
Later Tuesday, Albanese and Dutton, the leader of the conservative Liberal Party, will square off in Sydney for the campaign’s third televised leaders’ discussion.
On Sunday, there will be a fourth debate.
Dutton, who went to an Anglican school and was brought up by a Catholic mother and Protestant father, intended to attend a church service in Sydney.
It’s not a day for overt politics, in my opinion. The greatest way to spend the day, in my opinion, is to reflect, “Dutton told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“I don’t believe that today is the time for political body punches. It’s a different day, in my opinion,” Dutton continued.
The center-left Labour Party of Albanese is running for a second three-year term.
In the House of Representatives, where parties form administrations, the government enjoyed a slim majority of 78 seats out of 151 during its first term.
After the election, redistributions will reduce the number of seats in the lower house to 150.
Both of the major parties anticipate a close election.
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