Source: Washington Post
May 3, 2025 at 7:04 a.m. EDT
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... -election/
SYDNEY — Australia’s center-left government was expected to win reelection Saturday in a remarkable turnaround driven partly by anger over President Donald Trump’s disruptive trade war and its impact on the close U.S. military ally.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was projected to secure a second term, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, completing a stunning comeback for the Labor Party leader, who trailed in the polls two months ago. With about 30 percent of votes counted, however, it was still unclear whether the Labor Party would be able to govern outright or if it would need to partner with a smaller party or independents.
Trump’s tariffs — first 25 percent on Australia’s aluminum and steel, then 10 percent across the board — had driven voters toward the even-keeled incumbent and away from his conservative opponent, Peter Dutton, whose policies and rhetoric have echoed the American president, said Sean Kelly, a political columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Trump has absolutely dominated the trajectory of this election,” Kelly said, adding that the global uncertainty unleashed by Trump had made “Albanese’s boringness quite an appealing commodity.”
What in the living f*ck?