India, May 3 -- Australia is holding a general election on Saturday, May 3, to choose their next prime minister. The verdict of 18 million eligible voters will be known when results are progressively published by the country's Electoral Commission after counting starts by 6pm Eastern Time (1.30pm in India).

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's ruling centre-left Labour party is seeking to stay in power after winning in 2022 by defeating nine years of conservative Liberal-National coalition, whose current leader is Peter Dutton.

A Newspoll published on Friday in The Australian newspaper showed the Labour party leading 52.5%-47.5% against the Liberal-National coalition, under Australia's two-party preferential voting system.

Soaring inflati...