Conservatives eye power in knife-edge UK polls
Monday, 3 May 2010
LONDON, May 2 (AFP): Britain votes next Thursday with opposition Conservative chief David Cameron battling to end his party's 13 years in the wilderness by ousting Prime Minister Gordon Brown's tired Labour government.
But after a spectacular poll surge by the traditional third party the Liberal Democrats, the country faces a real prospect of electing a hung parliament Thursday for the first time since 1974.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg could well become kingmaker after the legislative ballots, if as polls suggest no one party wins a majority of at least 326 seats in the 650-member House of Commons.
While the Conservatives are consistently ahead of Labour -- two surveys Sunday put them 10 and 12 points clear -- the Lib Dems have surged into second place, eating away at the Tories' support.
To complicate matters further, Britain's first-past-the-post election rules mean that Labour could emerge with the largest number of seats despite being second or even third in terms of the per centage of votes cast.
But after a spectacular poll surge by the traditional third party the Liberal Democrats, the country faces a real prospect of electing a hung parliament Thursday for the first time since 1974.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg could well become kingmaker after the legislative ballots, if as polls suggest no one party wins a majority of at least 326 seats in the 650-member House of Commons.
While the Conservatives are consistently ahead of Labour -- two surveys Sunday put them 10 and 12 points clear -- the Lib Dems have surged into second place, eating away at the Tories' support.
To complicate matters further, Britain's first-past-the-post election rules mean that Labour could emerge with the largest number of seats despite being second or even third in terms of the per centage of votes cast.