The United Kingdom’s snap general election is expected to see Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party lose after 14 years in power. With 650 seats up for grabs in the House of Commons, polling stations opened early on July 4 and closed late in the evening.
In the previous 2019 election, Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party secured a majority by taking seats from the Labour Party, with the SNP gaining seats as well. The main political parties in the current race include the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens, Reform UK, SNP, Plaid Cymru, and DUP.
Voters in 650 constituencies will elect members of parliament through the first-past-the-post system, where candidates need to receive more votes than their competitors to win a seat in the House of Commons. A party must secure at least 50 percent of the seats, or 326, to form a majority government.
In the current UK parliament, the Conservatives hold the most seats at 344, followed by Labour, SNP, and the Liberal Democrats. The House of Lords, the upper chamber, is appointed rather than elected.
As vote counting continues, the British public anxiously awaits the outcome of the election, with potential implications for the country’s future direction and leadership. By the early hours of July 5, winners in each constituency will be declared, and the makeup of the new government will begin to take shape.
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