Britons Head to the Polls: Get the Inside Scoop on this UK’s Election

What You Need To Know About UK's Election

Britons are out voting in an election that has the potential to change the leadership in the United Kingdom.

Since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak surprisingly called for a snap election in July, the campaign has swung into full gear, ridden with political scandals and gaffes.

Although Sunak had until December to call for an election, since the last one was held five years ago in December 2019, his unexpected “now is the moment for Britain to choose its future” in his May 22 broadcast to the nation did not help in salvaging the tanking popularity of the Conservative Party.

What You Need To Know About the UK’s Election

Voters aged 18 and above will have the chance to elect Members of Parliament to the lower chamber, the House of Commons, between the hours of 6:00 GMT and 21:00 GMT on Thursday, July 4.

Although there are 392 registered political parties, the election is mainly between the two major political parties in the UK: Sunak’s Conservative Party and Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.

Voters in the four countries that make up the UK—England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales—will vote for their preferred candidates in the 650 parliamentary constituencies that make up the UK.

“Vote Conservative to stop the Labour supermajority which would mean higher taxes for a generation,” Sunak said in a post on X.

How Winners Are Determined

In the UK’s political structure, voters do not directly vote to elect a new leader but cast their votes to choose a local representative for the House of Commons.

To determine which candidates have been elected as Members of Parliament (MPs), the UK uses the First-Past-the-Post voting system, where candidates with the most votes are returned as elected, regardless of whether they secure 50 percent of the cast votes.

Once voting ends, the counting of votes begins, and the newly elected MPs are expected to be known by the early hours of Friday, July 5.

How The New Prime Minister Will Be Chosen

Several polls have predicted that the Conservative Party will lose its control of Parliament to the main opposition, the Labour Party.

Since 2010, the Conservative Party has been the ruling party in the United Kingdom. It has also governed the country for 65 non-consecutive years since modern British political history began, making it one of the most successful political parties in Western history.

To continue their ruling streak in the country of 67 million people, the party needs to maintain its majority in Parliament by winning at least 326 seats. However, political analysts believe that the Conservative Party, which has been embroiled in numerous scandals and controversies over the last five years, will lose its majority in Parliament.

If the Labour Party wins the majority of seats in Parliament as predicted, the party will be tasked with forming the next government, and its leader, Keir Starmer, will become the UK’s Prime Minister.

“Today, Britain’s future is on the ballot,” Keir Starmer said just a few hours after polls opened. His party, the Labour Party, is projected to win a majority in parliament. With it, he will become the new Prime Minister of the UK.

Why The Conservative Party Might Lose Parliament

Since winning the 2019 election with a large majority, the Conservative Party has been plagued by both internal and external crises, leading to the UK having three Prime Ministers.

After Boris Johnson was forced to resign following several scandals, including a fine for breaking lockdown rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, Liz Truss became prime minister but only served for seven weeks before Rishi Sunak took over.

The party is facing a more recent scandal where the UK Gambling Commission investigated individuals in the party, including Craig Williams and Laura Saunders, who are candidates, for betting that the UK election would be held in July, just three days before Sunak announced the election date.

Aside from the internal turmoil within the party, some Britons believe it has performed abysmally in addressing the challenges facing the country.

Reports show that residents are worse off now than 14 years ago when the party took over.

According to the Centre for Cities research institute, which analyzed disposable incomes, Britons had on average £10,200 ($12,950) less to spend or save in total during 2010-2022.

A survey by YouGov, a polling company, shows that 52 percent of voters said the economy mattered most to them. Another 50 percent are worried about the health sector. The rising issue of immigration and asylum concerns 40 percent of voters. Housing, crime, defense, and security are other challenges facing the country that voters say matter to them.

With these issues, polling shows that voters are inclined to see a change at Downing Street.