少数几个无党派议员将决定由谁来组建澳大利亚下一任政府。
将近80%的议会选举选票清点结果显示，这次大选是澳大利亚几十年来竞争最激烈的一次，两个主要党派中可能没有任何一方会赢得议会的多数席位。
这意味着总理吉拉德和反对党领袖阿博特将会争取一名绿党议员以及三名或四名无党派议员的支持，来组建澳大利亚自1943年以来的首个少数党联合政府。
绿党胜出者说，他可能支持吉拉德领导的中间偏左的工党，但是无党派人士说，他们想在作决定之前听到双方的观点。这些无党派人士全部来自农村选区，这些选区倾向于支持以艾伯特为首的保守派的自由党和国家党联盟。
A handful of independent lawmakers will decide who gets to form Australia’s next government.
With nearly 80 percent of the ballots counted from Australia’s closest election in decades, neither main party appears likely to receive a majority in parliament.
That means Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott will be competing for the support of one Green and three or four unaffiliated legislators to form the country’s first minority government since 1943.
The Green Party winner (Adam Bandt) has said he is likely to back Ms. Gillard’s center-left Labor Party, but the independents say they want to hear from both sides before making up their minds. All are from rural constituencies which lean toward Mr. Abbott’s conservative Liberal-National coalition.