The United Kingdom is all set to exercise its parliamentary elections on July 4. This high-stakes election will decide whether current PM Rishi Sunak will stay or Labour Party leader Keir Starmer will take over. As per current media reports, the opinion polls suggest that Starmer might win by a large margin, ending the Tory party’s 14-year rule.
There will be around 46.5 million Britons who are eligible to cast votes today in the local timings between 7 AM and 10 PM to elect members of Parliament across 650 constituencies – with 326 required for a majority in the first past the post (FPTP) system.
This crucial election of 2024 will be witnessing a close battle between the long-throne Conservative Party and the Labour Party of the UK. Find more about the election day that is set to commence in the UK:
The early call for UK parliamentary elections by Rishi Sunak has left political analysts puzzled and invited various speculations about the workings of the current government. The elections that should not take place till December 2024, Reuters reported Sunak in recent weeks has abandoned his call for a fifth consecutive Conservative victory, switching instead to warning of the dangers of an unchallenged Labour Party in parliament.
Under the FPTP electoral system, the candidate with the most votes in each constituency becomes the Member of Parliament (MP), even if they do not secure 50% of the votes. This contrasts with proportional representation (PR) systems used in many other European countries, where parliamentary seats are allocated based on the percentage of votes each party receives.
After the polls close, votes will be counted, with results expected to be announced in the early hours of July 5. If a single party wins a majority of the 650 seats, their leader will become the new Prime Minister. If no party achieves a majority, a hung parliament will be declared, and the largest party may attempt to form a coalition government.
Political parties prepare
On the final day of campaigning, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak emphasized the need to prevent a Labour supermajority. “This is what unites us. We need to stop the Labour supermajority that will put up your taxes. The only way to do that is to vote Conservative tomorrow,” Sunak stated on social media.
The Conservative strategy in the final hours was to rally their traditional voters to narrow the expected gap, following Tory victories in the last three general elections. The Opposition criticized this approach as fear tactics, aimed at mobilizing Tory voters to limit the Labour majority, hoping to avoid a repeat of the 1997 landslide victory under former Prime Minister Tony Blair.