Canberra, Aug 21 (IANS): Voting in Australia's general election began Saturday amidst poll surveys that Prime Minister Julia Gillard led Labor Party is running neck-and-neck with Tony Abbott led Coalition, media reports said.
More than 14 million people are enrolled to vote to choose from 1,198 candidates for 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 of the 76-member Senate, Xinhua reported.
Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. About 43 million ballot papers were stockpiled at the stations in 7,700 locations and will be supervised by some 70,000 electoral staff.
A Nielsen poll showed Gillard's Labor Party is ahead of opposition leader Tony Abbott's Coalition on a two-party-preferred basis by 50.2 percent to 49.8 percent.
The opposition party needs to win 17 additional seats in the House of Representatives to beat the Labor Party and form a majority government.