Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was returned to power in an election Saturday, the latest left-leaning leader to achieve a comeback victory thanks partly to President Trump.

Peter Dutton, leader of the conservative Liberal party, conceded defeat and the loss of his own seat - echoing the fate of Canada's conservatives and their leader whose election losses days earlier were also attributed to a Trump backlash.

President Donald Trump is at the center of a national election in Australia, where support for conservatives has dropped among voters angered by U.S. policies.

General election voting has closed in Australia's populous eastern states, including the cities of Sydney and Melbourne, with two more hours of voting left on Saturday in Western Australia in what has been a closely fought race.

Early counting in Australia’s election showed strong results for the center-left Labor government as well as independent lawmakers, with polling booths now closed across the country.

Early vote counting in Australia's general election Saturday suggested the government was likely to be returned for a second term. The Australian Electoral Commission's early projections gave the ruling center-left Labor Party 70 seats and the conservative opposition coalition 24 seats in the 150-seat House of