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SYDNEY: A key independent MP Thursday backed Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to form a government after deadlocked polls, leaving her just two seats short of a parliamentary majority.
Andrew Wilkie, a former Iraq war whistle-blower who represents a seat in Tasmania, said Gillard was best placed to rule after last month's elections returned the first hung parliament in 70 years.
"I have judged that it is the Australian Labour Party that best meets my criteria that the next government must be stable, must be competent and must be ethical," Wilkie told journalists in Canberra.
Wilkie's vote gives Gillard 74 seats in the 150-member lower house, just shy of an absolute majority of 76.
However, Tony Abbott's opposition coalition remains in the hunt with 73 seats and three independents still undecided.
Wilkie urged the three remaining "kingmakers" to make their move soon after nearly two weeks of political paralysis following the cliffhanger polls.
"I hope that this sends a signal to the other three independents and they move as soon as they can to make their decisions, and to decide to support a party or parties in a way that will bring stability to the parliament," he said.
The final three independents -- rural MPs Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, and maverick Queenslander Bob Katter -- have pledged to begin formal negotiations on Friday.
Momentum is now firmly behind Gillard, Australia's first woman prime minister, after she confirmed the support of parliament's lone Greens MP on Wednesday.
She said Wilkie's decision was smoothed by a 100 million dollar (90 million US) pledge for a hospital in his electorate, and assurances the government would try to ease gambling problems caused by omnipresent "pokie" slot machines.
"I thank Mr Wilkie for bearing in mind at all stages the national interest," she said. "He has clearly been motivated to enter this agreement based on his view of the national interest."
Gillard also received a boost Thursday when the opposition was accused of a policy blow-out of up to 10 billion US dollars, prompting the "kingmakers" to question Abbott's trustworthiness.
Windsor said an official Treasury tally had revealed a major discrepancy in the opposition's spending plans, and said the figures raised questions about whether Abbott had been honest with voters about the cost of his policies.
Opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb dismissed the official assessment as a "difference of opinion", saying the Treasury used different models and data to tally the costs of campaign promises.
Australian politics has been on a roller coaster ride since June, when Gillard staged a shock party revolt against elected prime minister Kevin Rudd to become the country's first female leader.
Policy stumbles and poor campaigning by Gillard ended in the closest election in decades, with disillusioned voters failing to decisively back either major party.
But on Thursday, bookmakers reported a rash of bets on Gillard as next prime minister, pushing Labor past Abbott's Liberal/National coalition as favourites to form a government.
"The swing to Labor in the past 36 hours has been absolutely remarkable, and as far as punters are concerned it appears Julia Gillard will get the required 76 seats after all," said sportsbet.com.au spokesman Haydn Lane.
The outspoken Wilkie famously blew the whistle on the lack of evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in 2003 while working as a government intelligence analyst, sparking a political storm. -AFP/wk/fa
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