Britain’s Boris Johnson on course for big win
If prime minister secures majority in election, Brexit could be a done deal
LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson secured a comfortable majority in Parliament, according to a BBC exit poll Thursday after an election that pitted Johnson’s plan to “get Brexit done” against opposition parties who wanted to delay Britain’s departure from the European Union or even cancel it altogether.
The result, if confirmed, probably paves the way for Johnson to push through Brexit on Jan. 31 after three years of divisive and acrimonious debate by lawmakers over whether Britain should leave a bloc it joined more than four decades ago.
Results are expected in the early hours of Friday.
The Conservatives were predicted to win 368 out of a possible 650 seats, which would be the party’s best performance in an election since Margaret Thatcher in 1987. The result, if it holds, marks a terrible day for the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn and those hoping to delay or overturn Brexit. The Labour Party was forecast to win fewer than 200 seats, its worst showing in decades. Exit polls in the past few British elections have been accurate.
The vote was Britain’s first winter general election for nearly a century and its fourth national ballot in less than five years. Though it was not formally directly connected to Brexit, Johnson called the vote two years ahead of time in an attempt to gain a working majority to break a parliamentary deadlock over the nation’s EU exit.
The results showed that three years after Britain narrowly voted to leave the EU, the nation is as divided over Brexit as it was in 2016.
Conservatives made gains in traditional Labour strongholds in northern England. In Scotland, the pro-EU Scottish National Party was forecast to make gains.
“We’re fed up. This just needs to be over,” said Julie Ames, 30, who works in a hair salon, as she made her way to a voting station south of Britain’s capital Thursday.
British electoral law prohibits revealing details about how another person has voted. Posts on social media indicated long lines at some voting stations, which is unusual in Britain. It could suggest that turnout was higher than anticipated.
The vote comes amid allegations of disinformation campaigns and falsehoods disseminated by the main political parties. Johnson’s Conservative Party has done more than any other group to stretch the limits of truth and transparency, according to a study by First Draft, a media watchdog. It found that nearly 90% of Facebook ads paid for by the Conservatives in the first few days of December contained misleading claims.