CANBERRA, Australia, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- The Liberal party inched ahead in Australia's yet undecided election race after Ken Wyatt won his seat, making him the first aboriginal member of Parliament.
The center-right Liberals now have 73 seats in the House of Representatives while the center-left Labor Party has 72. Despite Wyatt's win, the Liberals remain short of the 76 seats needed to form a government on their own.
For that reason, 10 days after Australians went to the polls, negotiations continue among the two parties and several independent candidates -- dubbed "the kingmakers" by national media.
Who the four independent and one Green Party members of Parliament eventually back will decide whether Labor leader Julia Gillard, 48, the country's first woman prime minister, continues to run the country.
Three of the four independents have formed an informal alliance and will back one candidate together, making them the most important and the ones with whom Gillard and Liberal leader Tony Abbott, 52, are in extended discussions.
Meanwhile, Wyatt, 57, takes his seat as the Liberal representative for Hasluck in Western Australia.
Wyatt brushed aside racist hate mail he has received since winning the seat and said it was time for Australia to move forward. UPI
