Brits vote in historic elections, exit polls put May ahead
LONDON, June 8, 2017
British voting is underway for the third major vote in three years after a snap election called by Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May.
After one of the most tumultuous years in British political history, polls opened on Thursday in the country's general election, reported CNN.
It comes less than one year after the Brexit vote that saw the UK vote to leave the European Union by 52 per cent to 48 per cent. That result saw Conservative PM David Cameron resign and be replaced by May.
She called the snap election in April when polls showed her with a more than 20 point lead over Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in a bid to increase the Conservative majority and strengthen her hand in Brexit negotiations with 27 EU member states.
But the divorce from Europe has faded into the background in recent weeks in the wake of the terror attacks which hit Manchester and London, with campaigning suspended in the aftermath of both events, the report stated.
With the voting reaching its final stages, last-minute polls put the Tories ahead of Labour, according to The Independent.
But now the public will have to wait until the exit poll is published at 10pm for an indication of whether Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn will be heading to Downing Street on Friday.
More than 46 million people are eligible to vote in what is the fourth major UK poll in three years, following the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, the 2015 general election, and the 2016 Brexit vote (to say nothing of local elections in 2014, 2015 and 2017), said the report.
Polls close at 10 p.m. UK time (5 p.m. ET), with results expected to begin rolling in within an hour or so after voting finishes, it added.
