Reuters, Sydney :
The resurgence of Australian nationalist politics has been halted at a state election in coal-rich Queensland, with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party at risk of being almost completely wiped from the state assembly.
Australia’s center-left Labor party is leading in the tight race after three-quarters of votes were counted following Saturday’s poll, while Hanson’s party has yet to confirm victory in a single seat.
The official result may not be known for several days although political analysts believe Labor will win the 47 seats it needs to govern in Queensland 93-seat assembly, a result that would allow it to form a government without support from independents or minor parties.
“I am confident of a Labor majority,” Queensland’s Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters on Sunday.
Hanson, a senator in the federal parliament, had anticipated a surge in support in her electoral heartland, to give momentum to the resurgence her anti-immigration, populist party enjoyed in the national election last year.
But despite attracting support from around 14 percent of voters, One Nation has not recorded decisive victories in individual seats. It is tipped to win just one seat in state parliament, according to analysis by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Griffith University political analyst Paul Williams said despite a lack of seats, Hanson’s party had likely polled higher than 20 per cent in some regional seats.
“All the anger, the disenchantment, the bitterness, the resentment to the major parties and elites, it’s still as strong as it was 12 months ago,” he told Reuters by telephone on Sunday.
