At 18:00 local time on May 21 (16:00 Beijing time on May 21), polling stations in eastern Australia closed, and the counting of votes in the federal election began immediately. Due to the time difference, voting is still going on in some parts of Western Australia. The preliminary counting result may be announced later on the 21st.
Australia holds federal parliamentary elections every three years. The election will re elect all 151 seats in the house of Representatives and 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate. A political party or coalition of political parties that has won at least 76 seats in the house of representatives will be in power, and its leader will serve as prime minister.
