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The polls show Labour expected to win 410 seats, the Conservatives 131, the Liberal Democrats 61, Nigel Farage’s new anti-immigration Reform UK Party 13 and the Scottish National Party 10.
The remainder of the 650-seat parliament is expected to be shared among smaller political forces: Welsh party Plaid Cymru is expected to win four seats, the Green Party is expected to win two seats, and other parties are expected to win 19 seats.
This suggests that the Conservative Party led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will be ousted after 14 years in power.
Six weeks ago, Sunak surprised observers and most of his own lawmakers by setting the election date for July 4, six months earlier than required by law.
It is almost certain that 61-year-old Labour leader Keir Starmer will become the new British Prime Minister.
In a post on social network X, he wrote: “Thank you to everyone who campaigned for Labour in this election, to everyone who voted for us and believed in our changed Labour Party – thank you.”
R. Sunaks also thanked his supporters with an “X” message.
Voting opened on Thursday morning with more than 40,000 people turning out at polling stations across the country, from church halls, community centres and schools to bars and even ships. Polls closed at 10 p.m. local time (00:00 Friday Lithuanian time).
Polls often provide a general idea of how the major political parties are performing.
Results from Britain’s 650 constituencies will trickle in overnight, with the winning party expected to cross the 326-seat threshold for a majority before dawn on Friday.
If the findings are confirmed, Sunak will call on head of state King Charles III on Friday and tender his resignation as prime minister.
Mr Starmer will then meet the monarch to accept his invitation to lead the next government and become prime minister.
Labour will then go to Downing Street, the UK leader’s office and residence, to make a speech and then appoint ministers.
This will cap an impressive political rise for the former human rights lawyer and chief prosecutor, who was first elected to parliament in 2015.
He promised a “decade of national renewal” but faces a daunting task in reviving crumbling public services and a sluggish economy.
His first few days in office will be busy, as he represents Britain at a NATO summit in Washington next week and hosts European leaders at a summit in southern England later this month.
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