Australia: Malcolm Turnbull declares win, eight days after polls close | The Guardian

The Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has declared victory in the federal election after a concession call from the opposition leader, Bill Shorten,eight days after polls closed in the tight race. At a press conference in Sydney, Turnbull thanked Shorten for the congratulatory call and expressed hope the 45th Australian parliament would be “exciting and constructive”. “I want to thank all of the candidates that ran for the Coalition, many have been returned; a number have not, of course, as you know. We have had a successful election.” Turnbull cited the fact that the Coalition had received 800,000 more first preference votes than Labor, led in two-party preferred terms and had won more seats, despite the results not having been finalised. The concession and victory speeches come eight days after the polls finished, because of extremely close results in a few key marginal seats, and six seats still remain undecided.