MEBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australians will head to the polls i n May for general elections that will be dominated by the soaring cost of living, the economy, energy and China. Affordable housing is in short supply, interest rates remain high and the major parties are starkly divided on how to wean the nation off fossil fuel-generated electricty.

Australians will go to the polls in May with high costs of living and a shortage of housing key issues likely weighing against the government

Australia will hold a general election on May 3, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Friday. Opinion polls indicate it will be a neck-and-neck race between Albanese's ruling centre-left Labor party and the conservative Liberal-National coalition led by Peter Dutton,