Labor favoured to keep power in Queensland

Bloomberg

Premier Annastacia Palasz-czuk’s Labor Party is favoured to be returned to power in the Australian state of Queensland as counting continues in a weekend election that hangs in the balance.
While analysts projected her party would win the highest number of seats, the result may not be known for days and the final tally could mean both
major parties fall short of the 47 seats required to form a
majority government in the
93-seat parliament. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. said Labor had won 46 and the Liberal National Party 39 as vote counting continues.
“You’d expect Labor to be in the box seat and the favourite to form government,” said Zareh Ghazarian, a Melbourne-based political analyst at Monash University. “It’s still unclear as to whether one of the major parties will be governing in their own right — that looks unlikely at the moment. We’re just not sure and have to wait and see over the next few days.”
If returned, Palaszczuk will be the first female leader to win two elections. Uncertainty over the final result clouds the immediate future of the resource-rich state — Australia’s third-largest by population. LNP leader Tim Nicholls said more than 360,000 postal votes still had to be counted, and the result would be determined by the seats in doubt. Also in question is Adani Group’s plan to build a A$16.5 billion ($12.6 billion) coal mine in Queensland, as the main parties disagreed on whether to back federal funding for a new rail link to carry coal to the coast.
Palaszczuk, 48, said she remained confident Labor would be able to form a majority government once all the votes had been counted.
She ruled out striking a deal with the One Nation party, but may be forced into working with independents from the Katter’s Australian Party. One Nation had been expected to pick up a clutch of seats, but appears to have fallen short as its leader Steve Dickson failed to win his seat.