The United Kingdom is all set to vote on July 4 after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced snap elections on May 22. Parties will be contesting for 650 seats in the House of Commons with the economy, housing crisis, cost of living, immigration, and foreign policy as the key issues shaping the vote.
Close to 50 million people are registered to vote, and according to the British Electoral Commission, three million overseas British citizens could be eligible to vote.
With the opinion polls indicating curtains down for a 14-year era of Conservative rule, here are some key questions answered:
ELECTORAL SYSTEM
The First-past-the-post is the electoral system used to elect the UK Parliament. In the UK, voters don’t elect a prime minister directly, and instead, elect an MP to represent their local constituency.
There are 650 constituencies in Britain – each one elects one member of parliament to the House of Commons. Each party can nominate one candidate in each constituency, and the candidate with the largest number of votes is elected as the MP for that constituency.
To secure a majority in parliament, a party must win at least 326 seats. The leader of the party which crosses that line becomes prime minister and forms a government. If no party has an overall majority of MPs, it is called a hung Parliament. In this case, the parties must work together to find a combination of parties to form a coalition government.
MAJOR PARTIES AND CANDIDATES
Conservatives/ Tories (Rishi Sunak); Labour (Keir Starmer); Liberal Democrats (Ed Davey); Greens (Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay); Reform UK (Nigel Farage); Scottish National Party (John Swinney); Plaid Cymru (Rhun ap Iorwerth)
KEY ISSUES
In recent years, people in the UK have also been battling a cost-of-living crisis as prices surge and salaries stagnate. In addition, they are grappling with a years-long housing crisis due to rising property prices, rent hikes and a lack of affordable new builds.
Immigration has become a heated election issue with Conservatives vowing to crack down on the number of people arriving on small boats. While PM Sunak backs a highly controversial plan to deport undocumented people to Rwanda, Labour hopes to scrap the Rwanda plan.
The state of the UK’s overstaffed and stretched National Health Service (NHS) also forms one of major issues this election. According to Al Jazeera, the proportion of people waiting more than four hours to see a doctor at Accident & Emergency departments of hospitals in the UK has risen steadily over the 14 years.
ELECTION RESULTS
Just after elections conclude, an exit poll is released by broadcasters. The counting of votes begin immediately after polls close and the first results come within hours. Once the overall result is clear, if the incumbent government has lost, the prime minister will formally tender his resignation to the King, which is expected to happen on July 5. The leader of the winning party will then meet the king, who will request he or she form a government.
OPINION POLLS
According to opinion polls, the opposition Labour Party, which has not won a general election since 2005, is more than 20 points ahead of Sunak’s Conservatives. YouGov has projected Labour could win 425 seats, with Conservatives on 108, which would mark the lowest number of seats won by the party in its 200-year history.
