British voters will go to the polls on Thursday for a general election that is being considered as a referendum on 14 years of Conservative dominance.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced elections months sooner than required, which surprised many in his party.
The opposition Labour Party suffered its worst loss since 1935 in the previous general election, although it has since recovered under Keir Starmer’s leadership.
Thursday’s vote comes after a six-week campaign in which all major parties canvassed the nation in quest of support. Much of the discussion has focused on the economy, the cost of living, the status of Britain’s public services, taxation, and immigration.
Britain’s relationship with the European Union, which it left in 2020 after a vote four years earlier, has largely been overlooked in the argument.
Since Boris Johnson’s huge victory in the 2019 general election, Britain has had three Conservative prime ministers.
However, as most of the public and his party turned against Johnson, Conservative party members voted in 2022 to replace him with Liz Truss, who became the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. Conservative MPs decided to replace her with Sunak.
During the campaign, Nigel Farage, a major Brexit supporter, announced his return to frontline politics as leader of the new hard-right Reform UK party.
Sunak, Starmer, Farage, and the leaders of all other major parties are expected to present at their local voting locations throughout the day.
Approximately 46.5 million Britons are eligible to vote in the election. They are voting in 650 constituencies spanning England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, with a party needing 326 seats to establish a majority government.
While polls are open, news outlets are not allowed to report on anything that might influence voters. British broadcasters’ exit polls predict that seat totals will be announced shortly after polls close at 10 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET), and counting will continue through the night and into Friday morning.
( Source: CNN)
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