Australian voters decided to keep their governing party in power in a surprise result on Saturday.
The country’s Labor Party, the main opposition to the governing coalition mostly made up of the center-right Liberal Party, expected to win going into the May 18 election. According to the BBC, exit polls showed Labor winning narrowly, as did polling in the lead up to the election.
But after results came in on Saturday Labor’s leader, Bill Shorten, conceded.
“It is obvious that Labor will not be able to form the next government,” Shorten told party members.
Shorten and the Labor Party ran on a left-leaning platform of shifting half of the country’s energy to renewables by 2030 and increasing funding for education and welfare programs. The Liberal Party, which partners with the country’s conservative National Party, ran on creating jobs, cutting taxes, and fiscal conservatism.
Australia’s economy has steadily expanded for nearly 30 years.
Australia’s government features a House of Representatives and Senate, but functions more like the United Kingdom’s parliament, where members of the majority parties also serve in the executive branch.
