Voters across the UK headed to the polls on Thursday to vote in one of the country’s most “historic” general election, which has been deemed crucial for the nation’s future in the European Union (EU) if the ruling Conservatives were elected to power again.
Thursday’s polls are the UK’s third in less than five years and also the first winter election to take place in December since 1923, the BBC reported.
Polling stations in 650 constituencies across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland opened at 7 a.m. (local time).
After the polls close at 10 p.m., counting will begin straight away. Most results are due to be announced in the early hours of Friday morning.
If a party wins in 326 constituencies it will have gained a majority.
A total of 650 MPs will be chosen under the first-past-the-post system used for general elections, in which the candidate who secures the most votes in each individual constituency is elected.
Anyone aged 18 or over is eligible to vote, as long as they are a British citizen or qualifying citizen of the Commonwealth or Republic of Ireland and have registered to vote.
The two main contenders, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, made their last election pledges on Wednesday.
In interviews with the BBC, Johnson repeated his main pledges, saying: “Only if you get Brexit done (can you) move the country forward.”
The Prime Minister said that he thought the election result would be “very close”, and that “every vote counts”.
Meanwhile, Corbyn said that there was a “greater understanding” from the public that the country “cannot go on with underfunded public services”.