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LONDON. – Britons streamed to the polls for the third time in two years yesterday after a campaign overshadowed by terror attacks and the uncertainty of Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May called the vote in April, when opinion poll ratings for her and her centre-right Conservative party were sky high, presenting herself as the strong leader to steer the country through tough negotiations to leave the EU.
Although she is strong favourite to keep her job, Islamist attacks in London and Manchester have put her under pressure over her six years as interior minister, while campaign missteps have dented her reputation as a safe pair of hands.
Labour opponent Jeremy Corbyn, an anti-war campaigner deemed unelectable by a majority of his own lawmakers, has run an energetic campaign, promising change and an end to austerity.
Security was high as millions of voters cast their ballots in polling stations ranging from schools and public buildings to churches, pubs and even a windmill and a launderette.
An exit poll at 2100 GMT will give an indication of the outcome, although final results will not emerge until early today. Polling experts – many of whom failed to predict the historic referendum vote to leave the European Union last year – are now wary of calling the outcome.
But predictions of her expected margin of victory vary widely, and one shock forecast model even predicted May could lose her majority of 17 in the 650-seat House of Commons.
While May has been touring target seats around the country, delivering slogan-heavy speeches to small groups of hand-picked activists, Corbyn has drawn large crowds to open-air rallies.
The 60-year-old vicar’s daughter has presented herself as uniquely qualified for the Brexit talks and said her 68-year-old rival would be “alone and naked in the negotiating chamber”.
“Get those negotiations wrong and the consequences will be dire,” she said on a final campaign stop on Wednesday.
Corbyn, a veteran socialist who has never held ministerial office and defied the odds to win the Labour leadership two years ago, urged supporters in Glasgow to think big on his last day of campaigning.
“Wouldn’t it be great if on Friday (today) we woke up to . . . a Labour government that will be a government for all of our communities across the whole of the country,” he said. – AFP.
Online Reporter