The United Kingdom is voting today, in what is being called a "historic" general election. This year's UK elections are also in a way "Brexit elections" as the results will determine if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union next year. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party have promised that if they reclaim majority in the parliament, they will pass the Brexit deal and move to negotiate a free-trade agreement with the European Union by the end of next year. The Opposition Labour party led by Jeremy Corbyn, will, however, renegotiate the Brexit deal, and then put it back to the British people for a final vote on whether they want to leave the European Union or remain in the European Union.
UK Election: Here's All You Need To Know
- Britons, hoping to end the political deadlock over Brexit, are voting for the third time in four years in a snap poll today.
- The UK elections are underway for the 650 seats in the British parliament, which has been deadlocked since the 2016 referendum on the European Union membership that saw a majority vote to leave.
- The face of the "Leave" campaign in the 2016 referendum, 55-year-old Boris Johnson has fought the election under the slogan of "Get Brexit Done", promising to end the deadlock and spend more on health, education and the police.
- Boris Johnson's main opponent, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, 70, has promised higher public spending, nationalisation of key services, taxes on the wealthy and another referendum on Brexit.
- The election features 3,321 candidates -- from 18-year-olds to octogenarians -- in constituencies covering windswept Shetland off northeast Scotland, to the Isles of Scilly more than 1,200 kilometres away off Cornwall, in southwest England.
- More than 45 million voters are registered to take part on more than 4,000 polling stations in the United Kingdom.
- Since British elections do not use much of technology, voters mark an "X" on a sheet of paper with a stubby pencil and drop it into a box. Each vote is counted and checked by hand, so the results take some time to come through.
- In 2017, neither the Conservative or Labour parties had enough votes to form a majority government. The Conservatives were the bigger of the two parties and formed a partnership with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to win votes in the Commons. Since the election, the Conservatives and Labour have both lost MPs, while the Liberal Democrats have made gains.
- After the polls close at 22:00 GMT (around 3:30 am in India), counting will begin straight away. Most results are expected to be announced in the early hours of Friday.
- When the overall result is known, the leader of the winning party, if there is one, visits Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen for permission to form a new government.
(With Inputs From Reuters, AFP)
