Ballot boxes were opened in Great Britain. Is Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party the winner or is there a change of course with opposition Labor party? And what role does brexit play?
All polls indicate that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is going to win the election. Not an exciting race?
Well, beware. Indeed, the polls show during the entire campaign that Boris Johnson will be the winner. Yet his position is not certain. Remember that polls can be wrong. During the 2015 elections, for example, the polling stations were wrong about it. Former Prime Minister David Cameron unexpectedly obtained a majority.
You also have to take into account an error margin. The latest poll by bureau YouGov shows that Labor, the largest opposition party, has caught up at the last minute. It suddenly looks a bit less rosy for Johnson. This important poll has predicted that the election, in the worst case for Johnson, could turn into a so-called “hung parliament.” Still quite exciting.
If neither party wins a majority of seats in the UK parliament and no outright winner comes out, it is called a “hung parliament.” In that case, the current prime minister will stay on until there is a new government. The party with the most seats then has three options. The party can choose to form a minority government. That makes it very difficult to guide legislative proposals through the parliament. The largest party can also choose to form a coalition with another party or to request support. Or, as a last resort, the prime minister may decide to resign. It is then the turn of the largest opposition party to form a coalition government.
If Boris Johnson doesn’t get a majority of seats and doesn’t know how to form a coalition, the Labor party could form a government. And let Labor want to hold a second brexit referendum.
It will not have escaped you; Boris Johnson has repeated his campaign slogan: “Get Brexit Done.” Getting the brexit through is Johnson’s top priority. If he wins the election, he wants the resignation deal he has negotiated with the European Union to be approved by the British Parliament as soon as possible. He then wants to leave the European Union at the end of January. The British will then negotiate a new trade agreement with the EU until December 31, 2020.
Certainly. Labor in particular focused on prosperity and the British health care system during the campaign. They held the conservative government of the last 10 years responsible for the high poverty in Britain and the poor state of health care. It even caused a stir when Boris Johnson refused to look at a picture of a sick 4-year-old boy who was forced to wait on the hospital floor for a free bed.
Not good news for the Johnson campaign, but how much influence it will have on the election results? We will know tonight.
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