Britons voted on Thursday in a knife-edge general election that could put their country’s membership of the European Union in question and raise the likelihood of independence for Scotland.
Voters casting their ballots face a choice between a government led by Prime Minister David Cameron’s centre-right Conservatives or by Ed Miliband’s centre-left Labour in the closest vote in decades.
–LIVE UPDATES–
Conservatives have been declared winner on 325 seats while Labour Party and Scottish National Party (SNP) have grabbed 229 and 56 seats respectively.
Nigel Farage has also resigned as the leader of United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).
Nick Clegg resigns as the leader of Liberal Democrats.
Ed Miliband has expressed his disappointment over his party’s performance but has refused to concede defeat.
Brother of Jemima Goldsmith named Zac Goldsmith has also won the elections.
British PM Cameron is heading towards his party headquarters in London after winning the election.
St Austell & Newquay goes to Conservatives. SNP has won seats from Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey.
Danny Alexander of Liberal Democrats loses his seat. James Cleverly of Conservatives has been elected as new MP of Braintree.
Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg has also been elected.
Christopher Chope of Conservatives wins the election from Christchurch.
British Prime Minister David Cameron holds his seat.
John Mann of Labour Party holds his seat in Bassetlaw.
Andrew Bingham of Conservatives is re-elected.
LAB wins the election from Sheffield Brightside & Hillsborough.
Leader of Labour Party Ed Miliband holds his seat from Doncaster North.
Margaret Greenwood of Labour Party beats Esther McVey of Conservatives.
Labour Party’s Ruth Cadbury defeats Conservative Party’s Mary Macleod by 465 votes. SNP’s Mhairi Black, aged 20, becomes UK’s youngest MP.
SNP has so far swept through Scotland, wiping out Labour seats Labour’s Douglas Alexander and Jim Murphy lost seats.
Labour has rejected an exit poll suggesting it would get 239 MPs to the Tories’ 316.
The same poll suggested the Lib Dems would lose 47 seats and the SNP would win all but one seat in Scotland.
Results so far suggest the exit poll is accurate but the majority of the 650 seats have yet to declare.
Galloway loses seat to a Pakistani UK’s Respect party leader and MP from Bradford West George Galloway has lost his seat to Naz Shah, a Pakistani origin candidate of Labour Party. Tasmina Sheikh has won Ochil & South Perthshire constituency for SNP with 26620 votes
Scottish nationalist elected youngest UK MP since 1667 A 20-year-old student representing the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) was elected Britain’s youngest lawmaker since 1667 Friday, toppling one of the opposition Labour party’s top figures.
Mhairi Black defeated Labour’s election campaign chief Douglas Alexander in Paisley and Renfrewshire South as an exit poll indicated that the SNP could win 58 out of 59 seats in Scotland.
“This election is about making the voice of this constituency and the whole of Scotland heard more effectively in Westminster than ever before,” Black told the crowd in the polling station as she delivered her acceptance speech.
“I pledge to use this voice not just to improve Scotland, but to pursue progressive politics for the benefit of people across the UK.” Conceding, Alexander said Black had run a “formidable campaign”.
Exit Polls declare ‘Conservative’ win British Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives were expected to win 316 seats — just short of the required majority of 326 and ahead of centre-left Labour on 239, an exit poll showed on Thursday.
Their current junior coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats, could win 10 seats, according to the exit poll released by British broadcasters following a close-fought general election campaign.
The exit poll also hands the Scottish National Party a historic victory, taking its tally of Scotland’s 59 seats from just six at the moment to 58. T
he UK Independence Party, which has campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union and against mass immigration, was predicted to win just two seats.
– Global consequences –
The election is being watched closely around the world due to the consequences it could have for the standing of Britain, a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a nuclear-armed NATO state.
“A Little England does not augur well for a US foreign policy which aims specifically to empower like-minded states to share the burden of leadership,” Jeremy Shapiro, a fellow at the Brookings Institution foreign affairs think-tank in the US, wrote this week.
Another potential issue for Britain’s global status is that Cameron has promised a referendum on whether Britain, the world’s fifth-biggest economy and Europe’s second-largest, should leave the EU if the Conservatives win. The referendum would be held by the end of 2017.
Reflecting the uncertainty, Britain’s FTSE 100 stock index dropped 0.67 percent to close at 6,886.95 points Thursday as investors settled down for the long night of results.
Vote casting
As polling commenced from 07:00 am BST (Britain Standard Time) Labour party leaders Ed Miliband and Nigel Farage casted their votes before 9am. An interesting development was witnessed as many people decided to google ‘who should I vote for?’
The latest leader to vote was Nick Clegg, who voted along with his wife at Sheffield at 11:30am.
Scots hope for stronger voice
Voters in Scotland said they wanted more influence in the British government as the Scottish National Party prepared for sweeping gains in Thursday’s general election, which could hand it the role of kingmaker.
At a community hall in a Glasgow suburb where SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon voted, 51-year-old Thomas Strubbs said he was hoping for more local powers.
“We need a stronger voice for Scotland in the UK parliament,” said Strubbs, who like many voters referred back to last year’s referendum in which independence was voted down by 55 percent to 45 percent.
Crucial polls for EU, Scotland
Britons voted on Thursday in a knife-edge general election that could put their country’s membership of the European Union in question and raise the likelihood of independence for Scotland.
Voters casting their ballots face a choice between a government led by Prime Minister David Cameron’s centre-right Conservatives or by Ed Miliband’s centre-left Labour in the closest vote in decades.
Capturing the tense mood, The Times carried a front page with the words “Judgment Day” emblazoned over a picture of the sun setting behind Big Ben, calling it the “most important election for a generation”.
UKIP most discussed party of Facebook: UKIP has been the most discussed political party on Facebook in the run up to the General Election while David Cameron tops the leader chart, the social media website has revealed.
Although they have been consistently third in opinion polls, Ukip’s 18 million likes, shares, comments and posts – or interactions – comfortably beat the Tories into second place with around 14 million interactions. Pub turns into a polling station for a day:
Power breakout at a polling station: The polling station in the constituency of Broxtowe lost its power supply after it was reportedly struck by lightning.
Nick Clegg’s undeterred by weather:
Around 3,000 voters sent to wrong polling station: Around 3,000 people have been sent to the wrong polling station in an embarrassing election blunder. Voters in Hounslow, West London, were sent polling cards with the incorrect location printed on them, reported the Mirror citing the local council. Hounslow Council has apologised for the mix-up, affecting those using polling booths in Southville Road and Bedfont Library, which it is understood only became apparent after voting opened at 7am. A spokesman told GetWestLondon the council was hand delivering letters to those properties affected and had arranged a free bus shuttle service between the two stations, running until 2.30pm and again from 5pm to 10pm, when the polls close. “We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause,” said the spokesman. Pictures titled “#DogsAtPollingStations” trending on Twitter: We’ve already seen pictures of horses turning up at a polling station.
Stocks slide:The London stock market sank Thursday as Britons voted in a general election that is shrouded in uncertainty and is set to be the closest in a generation. The capital’s FTSE 100 index of leading companies slumped 0.82 percent to 6,877.22 points in afternoon deals. In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index slipped 0.05 percent to 11,344.84 points and the Paris CAC 40 lost 0.50 percent to 4,956.71 compared with Wednesday’s close, with jitters over the Greek debt crisis also driving down stocks. Madrid stocks lost 0.60 percent, although Spain enjoyed negative interest rates on its medium-term debt for the first time since a crippling economic crisis. Name of UKIP candidate missing in some ballot papers: Voters have been calling for a re-run of the election after a Ukip candidate was left off almost 100 ballot papers in a marginal seat.
Pubs and schools:
Pubs, churches, town halls and even a windmill are open until 10pm (2100 GMT), as voters choose their local member of the House of Commons in 650 different constituencies.
The party with the most seats will form a government, but at the end of an intense campaign, neither Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives nor opposition leader Ed Miliband’s Labour party looked on course for an outright victory.
Poll survey:
Polling has commenced since several hours and according to pre-poll opinions, a neck to neck electoral fight is expected between the Labour Party and Conservative party.Around 50 million British voters will use their right to elect the public representatives for 650 seats of the Parliament.
Prime Minister David Cameroon’s Conservative Party and Labour Party of Ed Miliband are the main contenders in British parliament elections. The opinion polls however suggest none of the two main rivals will be able to win the magic figure of 326 seats in the parliament-necessary for formation of the government.
A hung parliament has been expected after the elections, which required to hectic political dialogue to gain support from another political party with sufficient parliament seats in bag. An ideal situation for Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party which is expected to win a bag full of seats from Scotland.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
United Kingdom will be the center of attention and news today from around the world as today millions of votes are expected to be cast. Polling in over 50,000 polling stations across the country will commence from 07:00 BST (Britain Standard Time) which is equivalent to 11:00 PST (Pakistan Standard Time). The main competition is expected to take place between British Prime Minister David Cameron (Conservative leader) and Ed Miliband (Labour leader).
The total number of constituencies which will be the battleground for electoral candidates are 650, spread across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. A total number of 326 seats are required to secure an overall majority and form the government with ease, which at the moment, is not looking possible. None of the contesting parties seem to be that better placed to form a single majority. During the last elections contested in 2010, the Liberal Democrats secured 57 seats. This constituted less than 10 percent of the chamber, despite the Liberal Democrats winning 6.8 million votes (23 percent).
As much as 50 million registered voters will exercise their fundamental right to elect more than 650 Westminster MPs. Besides the local elections, more than 9,000 council seats are being contested across 279 English local authorities.
Polling will conclude at 22:00 BST and a few results are expected to be announced by midnight however, the bulk of the results will be received by Friday afternoon. Most polling stations are going to be situated in buses, pubs, community centers and parish halls. After the polling time has ended, only those will be allowed to cast their vote who are in the polling line queues.
Leave a Comment