LONDON – British voters will go to the polls on Thursday for a crucial general election that is seen as a referendum on 14 years of Conservative rule.
The early vote, called by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, is being held months earlier than necessary and took much of his party by surprise.
The opposition Labor Party suffered its worst defeat since 1935 at the last general election, but has since rebuilt itself under the leadership of Keir Starmer. Thursday’s vote follows a six-week campaign in which all the major parties have crisscrossed the country seeking votes.
Much of the debate has revolved around the economy, the cost of living, the state of British public services, taxes and immigration.
However, largely absent from the debate has been Britain’s relationship with the European Union, which it left in 2020 after a referendum four years earlier.
Britain has had three Conservative prime ministers since the last general election in 2019, which Boris Johnson won by a landslide.
But after much of the country and his party soured on Johnson, Conservative Party members voted in 2022 to replace him with Liz Truss, who became the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) then voted to replace her with Sunak.
During the campaign, Nigel Farage – one of the most prominent supporters of Brexit – announced his return to the front line of politics to lead the nascent far-right party Reform UK.
Sunak, Starmer, Farage and the heads of all the other major parties are expected to turn up at their own local polling stations later in the day.
Around 46.5 million Britons have the right to vote in elections. They are casting their votes in 650 separate constituencies in the nations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with 326 seats required for a party to form a majority government.
The media is prohibited from reporting anything that could influence voters while the polls are open. An exit poll by British broadcasters will project seat totals soon, when polls close at 10 pm local time (5 pm ET), with counting taking place throughout the night and into Friday. in the morning.
There are 650 parliamentary seats up for grabs on Thursday, each of which will be held by a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons. For a single party to win an absolute majority in the House of Commons, it would need to win at least 326 seats, more than half of those available.
Whichever party does that will be able to form the next government, and its leader will become prime minister.
Parliament was formally dissolved on May 30 when Sunak called an election, as is the procedure, but before that, Sunak’s long-ruling Conservative Party had an absolute majority of 345 seats, giving it a significant power to set the political agenda.
The United Kingdom has what is called a first-past-the-post system, which means that voters receive a ballot with a list of candidates from different parties and select only one of their choice.
Voting begins in the UK general election on Thursday morning, with results from most constituencies expected early on Friday morning, although this may take longer in some more rural areas of the country , especially if the vote count is close or subject to a recount.
There is usually an early indicator of the overall results of a UK general election, as British broadcasters Sky News, ITV and BBC News, CBS News’ sister network, release a joint exit poll immediately. after the polls close. The exit poll generally provides an accurate representation of the final results and can be expected around 10 pm Thursday local time (5 pm Eastern time).
UK election predictions and polling data
Polls and political analysts have predicted for many weeks that Labor will achieve a landslide majority in Parliament. If the latest polling data proves accurate, Sunak’s 18-month term will end and Britons will wake up Friday morning with a new party in charge of the country for the first time in 14 years.
