One of the biggest advocates of Australia’s COVID-19 lockdowns is set to be reelected in the state of Victoria on Saturday, a vindication for the center-left Labor Party after a term dominated by controversy over its handling of the pandemic.
As of 9 p.m. Saturday local time, Premier Daniel Andrews’s party was projected to win more than 45 seats in the parliament of Australia’s second-largest state, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, giving him a governing majority for the next four years.
The win will be a relief for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, also from the Labor Party, for whom Andrews was an ally and an asset ahead of his own victory at a national vote held in May.
