UK votes in referendum with coalition under strain

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FE Team | Published: May 06, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

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LONDON, May 5 (AFP): Britain votes Thursday on changing the electoral system after a viciously fought campaign for the first national referendum in more than 30 years put the ruling coalition under strain. Polls indicate Britons will opt to keep the first past the post system, in which the candidate with the most votes wins, shunning a switch to the alternative vote (AV) in which candidates are ranked by preference. Prime Minister David Cameron is leading his centre-right Conservative party in opposing the change, while his deputy, Nick Clegg of the centrist Liberal Democrats, is a strong supporter of the "Yes" camp. Polling stations open across Britain at 0600 GMT and close at 2100 GMT, but counting in the referendum will not start until Friday at 1500 GMT and the result is expected later that day. Aside from the nationwide referendum there will also be elections for the devolved national assemblies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, plus local authorities in England and Northern Ireland. Britain has only held one nationwide referendum in recent times, when voters on June 6, 1975 backed the country's continued membership of the European Economic Community. Turnout in 2011 is likely to be low, as both sides have struggled to get their message across amid the clamour of the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton, followed by the death of Osama bin Laden. But nearly one year after a general election that created an unlikely marriage between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems, the war of words between the coalition partners has still garnered headlines.