UK Elections 2024: follow the results of Labor and Conservatives
According to polls, the general election in the United Kingdom on Thursday will return power to Labour after 14 years of Conservative governments, despite Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s attempts to downplay the expected devastating defeat. Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time.
Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak was one of the first politicians to vote. Sunak hopes to continue as party leader if it loses the UK general election in order to avoid infighting within his party, according to The Times newspaper.
Yesterday, politicians made a final effort to convince the undecided, but polls on voting intentions give Keir Starmer’s Labour Party a certain victory and also suggest that this party can make history by achieving an absolute majority never seen before in the country.
More than 45 million citizens in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the four nations that make up the United Kingdom, are called to the polls to vote on the composition of the 650-seat House of Commons of Parliament. Under the country’s single-member majoritarian electoral system, Labour will take power without having to form a coalition if it wins its target number of 326 seats, one more than the other parties.
Sunak goes to vote, hoping to remain the Tory leader
Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak was one of the first politicians to vote. In the latest polls, the current Prime Minister is not the favorite, giving the Labour Party the win. He went with his wife, Akshata Murty, to his polling station in Northallerton, in the north of England. There, he greeted journalists with a “good morning.”.
Sunak hopes to remain the Tory leader if he loses Thursday’s general election in order to avoid infighting within his party, The Times reports. Sunak wants to ensure an “orderly transition” within his party, which all polls predict will lose Thursday’s election. Ministers have asked Sunak to stay on as Tory leader until September, the paper reports.
Sunak calls for avoiding a Labour “super majority”
Labour will put up your taxes. Again and again and again.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 4, 2024
1 hour to stop the Labour supermajority. pic.twitter.com/6zBkXY8Jh6
Labour leader Keir Starmer calls for a vote for “change”
British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, who is set to win the UK general election, called on Thursday to vote for “change” via social media platform X. “Change. You can vote for it today,” Starmer wrote.
Polling stations open in the United Kingdom: 45 million citizens go to the polls.
At 7 a.m., polling stations open in the United Kingdom. More than 45 million citizens in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the four nations that make up the United Kingdom, are called to the polls to vote on the composition of the House of Commons (lower) of Parliament, which is made up of 650 seats.
Polling stations will be open in the UK from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (local time) on Thursday, allowing all registered voters aged 18 or over to cast their vote. In the last election in 2019, turnout was 67.3%.
Why are UK elections held on a Thursday? The reason why we don’t vote on a Sunday
On Thursday, July 4, UK citizens will go to the polls to elect new members of Parliament and the next Prime Minister. The two main forces in this election are represented by the current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party, and Keir Starmer of the Labour Party.
Unlike most countries, which hold elections on Sundays to facilitate the participation of the majority of the population, the United Kingdom schedules the election in the middle of the week on a working day. Since 1931, all general elections in the United Kingdom have taken place on a Thursday.
End of an era: can you imagine the Conservative Party disappearing?
In the 1950s, they transformed a sick, bombed-out empire into a prosperous country. In the 1980s, under Margaret Thatcher, they downsized the state and reshaped the economy. But now? What legacy do the Tories leave behind after fourteen years in power? The Conservative Party, the machine that has dominated the recent history of British politics, is heading for unprecedented levels of annihilation in Thursday’s election, where they could lose more than 70% of the seats they won in 2019 with their promise to execute Brexit, reports Celia Maza.
Despite Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plea to voters not to give the opposition an outright majority, Labour could win 431 seats, giving Keir Starmer a landslide majority of 212, surpassing Tony Blair’s historic victory in 1997 and making him the most electorally successful leader, according to the latest YouGov poll. If forecasts are confirmed, it would be the largest majority won by any party at Westminster since 1832.