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Christopher Pyne Claims Coalition Has Won The Election

He said "we have won again".
Christopher Pyne made his claim on Channel 9's Today program.
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Christopher Pyne made his claim on Channel 9's Today program.

Minister for Industry Christopher Pyne has said the Coalition has won the federal election, with 74 of a required 76 seats "in the bank".

Pyne told the Today show the Coalition would be able to take government with a majority.

He said 74 seats were secure for the Coalition, with the inclusion of Forde in which it is ahead by several hundred votes, and it was strongly favoured to win the seats of Herbert, Capricornia and Flynn.

Reaching the target of 76 seats would enable the Coalition to form government in its own right, but Pyne also claimed to have the support of some crossbenchers.

The Australian Electoral Commission's latest numbers have the Government on 74 seats including Forde and Labor on 71 including five close seats .

"We have won again. That's our sixth victory out of eight in the last 20 years. You have to say that we are an election-winning machine in the Liberal Party," Pyne told the Nine Network.

Appearing shortly after on Sky News, Finance Minister Matthias Cormann was asked if the election was "won".

"That is certainly the indication we have, the way the numbers are trending," he said.

He said he was "quietly confident" the votes were trending the Coalition's way.

Close Seats

As of Friday morning, the Australian Electoral Commission had the following seats too close to call.

Flynn, QLD -- 76.8 percent of votes counted with Labor leading by a margin of 646

Cowan, WA -- 77.2 percent of votes counted with Labor leading by a margin of 534

Capricornia, QLD -- 80.8 percent of votes counted with Labor leading by a margin of 476

Herbert, QLD -- 79.1 percent of votes counted with Labor leading by a margin of 449

Hindmarsh, SA -- 81.5 percent of votes counted with Labor leading by a margin of 68

Forde, QLD -- 76.8 percent of votes counted with the Liberals leading by a margin of 687

Meanwhile, we wait.

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