Australian PM confirms plan to dissolve parliament, calls July 2 election

  08 May 2016    Read: 603
Australian PM confirms plan to dissolve parliament, calls July 2 election
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull requested the United Kingdom`s Queen Elizabeth II`s representative to dissolve both houses of parliament and call elections on July 2, he said at a press conference Sunday.
"The governor-general has accepted my advice to dissolve both houses of parliament effective tomorrow...and call the election on July 2," Turnbull said in televised a press conference after visiting Peter Cosgrove approximately an hour earlier.

The Australian constitution envisages a mechanism, known as the double dissolution, which empowers the government to call for an election if the Senate blocks a piece of legislation twice. Turnbull said in late March that voting to elect lawmakers in Australia would be held on July 2 if the current parliament failed to pass two union bills.

The next federal elections are due to be held in Australia before the start of 2017.

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