Australian Election Results 2022: How Long Until We Have a Winner?

It’s been a long road to the 2022 democracy sausage but we’ve almost made it. On May 21, following weeks of campaigning, debating and unwanted texts and fliers, the Australian federal election will take place. So when can we find out the all-important election results?

While we won’t know for sure which party forms government and who is elected Prime Minister until all the votes have been counted, we’re here to answer any questions you may have about election results in the meantime.

Your guide to Australia’s federal election results

How long does it take to get election results in Australia?

Election results in Australia can come as soon as the night of election day to over a week after the polls close. The polls themselves are open from 8 am to 6 pm on election day, and after this the results can be logged.

According to the Parliament of Australia website:

The result of the election is declared as soon as practicable after it has been ascertained that a candidate has been elected — in some divisions this may be a week or more after the election.

The poll may be declared, notwithstanding that all ballot papers have not been received or inquiries completed, if the Returning Officer is satisfied that the votes recorded on the ballot papers concerned could not possibly affect the result.

This means if the tally is close it could take longer to get a clear result.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has said that it will likely never declare a result on election night itself — so don’t stay up all night waiting.

What they do provide, however, is an indicative count which can help us understand which direction the vote is heading. This is often what you’ll see on TV the same night and in the days following the election until everything has been finalised.

The AEC has to declare a seat for it to be legal. So nothing goes until the AEC says so.

The ABC also reported that pre-polling is on the rise this year, with 15% of voters requesting a postal vote. Postal votes are counted the day after the election but it can take up to 13 days after election day for them all to be counted.

Given the significant number of postal votes this year, we could be waiting a while.

How are the votes counted?

As the AEC outlined in its recent Reddit AMA, counting the votes is a complicated process.

This video breaks it all down, but basically there are many processes in place to get ballots from polling booths to results.

There are custom made boxes involved with each being securely sealed at every step of the journey, always with witnesses present to ensure there has been no tampering.

Then when it comes to counting, every ballot has to be manually input by a human, twice. Then the papers are scanned by a machine and both results are compared.

If there are any discrepancies the vote is re-examined. Scrutineers are also present during counting and can watch and challenge at any time.

Who is the likely winner of the federal election according to polls?

Prior to the official election results, the main indicator of how the vote will go is opinion polls. But as we’ve seen in the past, these can vary wildly.

Right now (as of May 17) The Australian Newspoll results have the Australian Labor Party (ALP) as the preferred party at 54% with the Coalition (LNP) at 46%, based on a two-party preferred poll. Meanwhile, opinions on who would be a better Prime Minister are very close with Scott Morrison taking 43% of the poll and Anthony Albanese taking 42%.

Roy Morgan’s latest poll on federal voting intention has similar results with the ALP at 53% over the LNP at 47%.

Remember these are just opinion polls using small sample sizes, so they’re subject to change. Regardless though it seems like it will be another close call.

What’s a hung parliament?

To determine the election a party must usually hold the majority of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. If neither party can reach the required 76 seats, we have what is called a hung parliament.

Remember the 2010 election? That’s what that was all about.

In the case of a hung parliament, the government will usually be left in the hands of a ‘caretaker Prime Minister’. In 2010, that was Julia Guillard.

In the same year, we saw many of the minor independent members gather together to support the Labor party, which gave them the edge they needed to form government.

According to the Parliament of Australia, some conventions are in place in the case of a hung parliament.

Once the election result becomes clear an incumbent Prime Minister must, by convention, resign if another party wins a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. In Australia it appears to be the custom for the resigning Prime Minister to advise the Governor-General to commission the leader of the majority party to form a government.

A secondary convention is that if, after an election, no-one emerges with the confidence of a majority of the House, the incumbent Prime Minister, as the last person to hold a majority, has the right to remain in office and test his or her support on the floor of the House.

Where can I see results on election day in Australia?

There are a few ways to follow the election results following democracy sausage day.

The ABC will be following the results closely on its Election page online, so that’s a good place to start.

It’s also guaranteed that some, if not all, of the major news channels will be reporting on election results, so turn on the news on Channel 7, Channel 9, Channel 10 or the ABC and you’ll be able to follow the vote.

A final reminder that election day is this weekend on Saturday, May 21, so if you haven’t yet voted already head on down to your local polling booth. Then grab yourself a democracy sausage and prepare to wait for the election results.

We also have a handy guide to the Australian federal election in 2022 as well as what the major parties stand for.

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