August 22nd, 2010
03:04 AM ET

Australian PM reaches out to independents

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Sunday that she was speaking with independent lawmakers in an effort to build a coalition government.

Gillard is the head of the country's Labor Party. Her remarks to reporters on Sunday came after no clear winner emerged in Saturday's cliffhanger election.

Results are still being tallied by Australian elections officials. The winning party needs to secure 76 of 150 seats in parliament.

Gillard stressed that her discussions with independent and Greens Party lawmakers were preliminary.

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Filed under: Australia
soundoff (5 Responses)
  1. Faisal

    I was in australia when she was elected Prime Minister. I've got to say I really hope she dies!

    August 22, 2010 at 3:50 am | Report abuse |
    • BewdyCall

      And apparently, you're not the only one. I'm an ex-pat Aussie now living in the States (married an American) and wasn't even aware a Federal election was coming up, until a buddy of mine from NSW e-mailed me on July 29, to say: "We have a federal election on the 21st; pray for Aust we don't get Julia Gillard – she does not believe in God. She got in by stabbing Rudd in the back.", so of course, we prayed. For the sake of all Australians, we can only hope our prayers are answered.

      August 22, 2010 at 4:57 am | Report abuse |
  2. markjuliansmith

    Let’s hope for Australians sake the Independants have more sense than the crocodile. Though Kevin Rudd and Mark Latham the X Labor leaders may suggest from personal experience to the Independants the crocodile is a much safer bet than Gillard.

    August 22, 2010 at 3:56 am | Report abuse |
  3. chrisozman

    There are two ways this could go, either the current government with an Atheist Prime minister forms a coalition with
    the Trotskyist/communist Green party. or the Liberal/National party with a flawed, but truly God-fearing, leader forms a coalition with 3 conservative independents, I think at least Americans will know who to pray for here, and I really hope they do!

    August 22, 2010 at 5:31 am | Report abuse |
  4. Zhang

    It seems that Australian PM Julia Gillard is only good at infighting (she got rid of PM Kevin Rudd inside her Labor party), but not good at convincing citizen voters.

    August 22, 2010 at 11:36 pm | Report abuse |
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