Australian PM to call federal election for May 3: media

CANBERRA - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will call the federal election on Friday morning for May 3, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Thursday.

The prime minister will visit Governor-General Sam Mostyn in the Australian capital Canberra, where he will advise that he is dissolving parliament and calling the federal election for May 3, said the report, adding that it is to trigger "a five-week campaign to convince voters whether Labor under Anthony Albanese or the Coalition under Peter Dutton is most fit to lead the country".

According to the report, the cost of living is likely to dominate the campaign and both parties will have to campaign fiercely to guarantee enough seats to be able to govern, and 76 seats are needed for an outright majority.

With just three seats to lose to force Labor into minority government, and 19 for the Coalition to pick up to be able to govern in its own right, pollsters have favored a hung parliament as the most likely outcome based on current opinion.

The report noted that successive polls have also identified a larger-than-usual bloc of uncommitted voters, and the most hotly contested seats are around Melbourne and Sydney's outer suburbs, with polls suggesting those are among the likeliest to change hands and determine the election outcome.