Britain’s political leaders gear up for general election

Thousands of polling stations in Britain will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, and the political leaders of the country are ready for the general election process.

The 46 million voters in Britain will be handed slips of paper containing the names of candidates in their respective constituencies, and some of them have already voted via postal votes, waiting to be added to the final toll.

The Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Labour main opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn were set for the last push for votes.

The general election was called in a bid to break the Brexit deadlock, which has gripped Britain ever since the seismic 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union (EU). After struggling to lead a minority administration, Johnson hopes to secure a majority government that will enable him to take Britain out of the bloc on Jan. 31.

The first results from some of the smaller constituencies will be announced around an hour after the counting starts. But the majority of results will start to emerge as the returning officers announce the results. This is when the first accurate picture emerges of the likely winner of the election, and of who will be heading to 10 Downing Street.
Managers of the political parties will be eagerly watching the emerging results, hoping their party will pass the magic number of 326, exactly half plus one of the number of constituencies, which is 650.

If either the governing Conservatives and the main opposition Labour pass the finishing line “326,” they will be declared the winners to form the government.