Early voting kicks off in close election for Australia's leader

Ben Westcott, Bloomberg News on Apr 21, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CANBERRA, Australia — Australians started early voting ahead of a national election on May 3, with polls showing the center-left Labor government holding a narrow lead over the opposition with two weeks to go until the campaign ends.

Almost 50% of Australians cast their ballots early in the last election in 2022, either by post or in person, and a large number of voters are expected to turn out from Tuesday at polling stations across the country. A record number of people have registered to vote in the 2025 poll, according to the Australian Electoral Commission.

Ahead of the start of early voting, new polling released Sunday showed Labor maintaining its 52% to 48% lead over the Liberal-National opposition, a result mirroring other recent surveys that showed the current government in a winning position ahead of election day.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese played down expectations for a Labor win when asked Monday about the polling, pointing to the 2019 election where his party led in the polls, only to lose unexpectedly to then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

“There’s no complacency from my camp, I assure you of that. And this election is certainly up for grabs,” Albanese told journalists in the state of New South Wales.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Peter Dutton said he was the “underdog” but also pointed to his center-right Coalition’s come from behind win about six years ago as an example of how polling shouldn’t always be believed.

“Frankly, I think there are a lot of people who are just busy with work, busy in their lives, many Australians don’t even know there’s an election coming up. There’s an enormous soft vote out there,” Dutton said at a press conference in Victoria.

However, there are worrying signs for Dutton, with his approval rating falling in the latest Newspoll to its lowest point since he became leader of his party in 2022. A survey by Resolve released Sunday found that almost one in two people said their biggest hesitation in voting for the Coalition was “Dutton’s personality as leader.”

For Labor, one in two Australians said they were concerned about what they saw as the government’s lack of action addressing sharp increases recently in the cost of living.

Both leaders will face each other on Tuesday night for their third election debate hosted by the Nine Network, starting at 7:30 p.m. Sydney time.

____