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Australia's incumbent coalition government still has a chance to secure a majority in Parliament, leading political analysts have said on Wednesday, after it managed to secure three of the seats that were previously "on a knife's edge."
The vote count for Australia's federal election has entered its fifth day, after the result was deemed "too close to call" and a hung Parliament was touted as the most likely result, but according to one of the nation's most respected political analysts, Antony Green, there is still a chance the Liberal-National Party coalition could secure a majority government.
He said while a hung Parliament -- where no major party wins enough seats to govern in its own right -- was the likely result, a majority for the coalition was still "possible."
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the coalition is set secure at least 73 seats, only three short of the 76 required to form a majority government.
"I think they can get to 76 (seats)," Green told the ABC, which would hand the coalition the slimmest majority.
"Seventy-three is a definite, 74 is also likely, 75 is possible, 76 is less possible."
Members of the coalition remain confident of retaining power on Wednesday. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said a number of pre-poll and postal voted were yet to be counted in disputed seats.
Joyce said the coalition had traditionally polled strongly with the long-distance voters.
"We still have postal votes to come in, we look at the trend of the postal votes, we look at how many votes we are behind and if the trend stays consistent we make the analysis that we'll end up in front, and I think we will, so that basically means we're at 76, " Joyce told the Nine Network on Wednesday.
But Green tempered the deputy PM's claims, and said if a majority was to be clinched, it would be "very narrow", and there would be no absolute majority.
"It's still either a very, very narrow coalition majority or hung parliament. The coalition will have more seats than Labor," Green said.
If the coalition is unable to secure the 76 seats needed for a majority, Labor still might be able to secure a minority government, should the Independent MPs choose to side with Opposition Leader in the case of a hung Parliament.
Joyce, a member of the National Party -- the junior member of the coalition -- said he expects a "complete policy rethink by the coalition" after the "aloof" election campaign, and said he expects the Nationals to play a bigger role in the government, after it increased the number of seats it won.
Despite Joyce's claims, Treasurer Scott Morrison said the coalition would be going ahead with its current plan, particularly if they win a majority of seats to form a government. The Treasurer told reporters on Wednesday the coalition was "on track" to secure the 76 seats required.
"We will go forward with our legislation plan for the budget, certainly if we return as a majority government and we are still on track to form those 76 seats that would be needed to form a majority government," Morrison.
Meanwhile, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has come under fire after claims that ballot papers were left improperly stored for the "knife's edge" Western Australian seat of Cowan.
AEC spokesperson Phil Diak dismissed the claims on Wednesday, and assured voters the ballot papers were "always within the AEC's keeping."
"I've been advised that those votes were always within the AEC' s keeping, they were in the secure containers," Diak told Sky News.
"We do, as part of our administrative surrounding that we have, forms where we record the numbers of the seals that are on those boxes. That sheet was in a different place, it was with the officer in charge rather than the transfer but always within the keeping of the AEC."
Australians voted on Saturday, however, a result to determine government may not be known until later this week. Enditem
