MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australians began voting Tuesday at general elections as campaigning was overshadowed by the death of Pope Francis.
Polling stations opened to voters who for a variety of reasons will be unable to vote on May 3. Around half the votes are expected to be cast before the election date.
Both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and opposition leader Peter Dutton cancelled campaign events planned for Tuesday out of respect for the late pontiff.
Flags were flown at half staff from government buildings across the country where a 2021 census found 20% of the population were Catholics.
Albanese was raised as a Catholic but chose to be sworn in as prime minister when he was elected in 2022 by making a secular affirmation rather than by taking an oath on a Bible.
Albanese attended a Mass in honor of the pope in Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Tuesday morning.
“I try not to talk about my faith in public,” Albanese told reporters.
“At times like this, I think what people do is they draw on who they are and certainly my Catholicism is just a part of me,” he added.
Albanese and Dutton, who leads the conservative Liberal Party, will meet in Sydney later Tuesday for the third televised leaders’ debate of the campaign.
A fourth debate is planned Sunday.
Dutton, who was raised by a Catholic father and Protestant mother and attended an Anglican school, planned to go to a church service in Sydney.
“I don’t think it’s a day for overt politicking at all. I think that the day is best spent reflecting,” Dutton told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“I don’t think there’s a place for the body blows of politics today. I think it’s a very different day from that,” Dutton added.
Albanese’s center-left Labor Party is seeking a second three-year term.
The government held a narrow majority of 78 seats out of 151 in the House of Representatives where parties form administrations during its first term.
The lower chamber will shrink to 150 seats after the election due to redistributions.
The major parties are both predicting a close election result.
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