Polls open for Australia's general elections
CANBERRA. August 21. KAZINFORM Polls opened Saturday morning for Australia's federal elections for the 43rd Parliament amidst a poll-suggestion that Prime Minister Julia Gillard-led Labor Party is running neck-and-neck with Tony Abbott-led Coalition; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.
About 14 million voters will choose from 1,198 candidates for all the 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 of the 76- member Senate.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. (AEST) on Saturday (2200 GMT Friday) and will last till 6 p.m.
Polling stations have been set up at 7,700 locations which have stockpiled 43 million ballot papers and will be supervised by some 70,000 temporary electoral staff.
As voters are heading to polling stations around the country, Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) New South Wales state manager Doug Orr said Sydney's Central Business District is expected to record about 8,000 votes, the most for any New South Wales polling station, where voters will be overwhelmed in the area; Kazinform cites Xinhua.
See www.news.xinhuanet.com for full version