Filed under: General

Gordon Brown speaks outside 10 Downing Street -- but polls suggest voters thinks he should step down. (Getty Images)

London, England – As parliament hangs, some recent ComRes findings may give David Cameron cheer: By a wide majority, voters think the leader of the party with the most votes in the general election should get to be prime minister. That's Cameron.

By a narrower majority, they think the leader of the party with the most seats in the Commons should get to be prime minister. That's Cameron.

ComRes did NOT ask voters to choose between Cameron and Brown in the event of a hung parliament, but they did ask a yes/no question about each one.

So, asked if they wanted Cameron to be prime minister in the event of a hung parliament, 48 percent said yes, while 45 percent said no. In polling lingo, that's +3 for Cameron.

Asked if they wanted Brown to stay on in case of a hung parliament, 33 percent said yes, while 61 percent said no. That's -28 for Brown... or strike three, depending on how you count it.

Posted by: Richard Allen Greene, The CNN Wire
Filed under: Election •General •Polls

Number 10, Downing Street is the official residence of the UK prime minister – but the future occupant is still undecided.

London, England – The closest-fought UK election in decades will result in a hung parliament in which neither of the two biggest parties has a clear majority that would allow it to pass legislation.

The latest projections are that David Cameron's Conservatives will win the most seats - but will be short of a certain majority in the 650-seat House of Commons.

Where does this all leave the UK political system?

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN.com producer, Peter Wilkinson
Filed under: General

BNP candidate Nick Griffin talks to the press in Barking (CNN)

London, England – The Battle for Barking seems to be coming to an end. And Labour candidate Margaret Hodge is predicting a "thrashing" victory over British National Party candidate Nick Griffin.

The votes are still being counted but Nick Griffin concedes this will likely not be the year the BNP gets a seat in parliament.

Not surprising, perhaps. The BNP has been dealing with infighting inside party ranks - its online manager took the Web site down briefly on the last day of campaigning in an internal dispute - and a downright hostile reaction to its campaign on the streets - including a fist fight between one BNP candidate and local youths.

The BNP was betting that local disappointment with Labour would translate into BNP votes. But that may not be the case when it comes to a parliament seat. How the BNP fares in the local election, however, may be a different matter.

Turnout has been good: 62 percent in Barking and 64 percent in Dagenham. The votes have been verified and the real counting is now under way. We'll soon find out just how much of a "thrashing" the BNP will get.

Posted by: CNN Correspondent Atika Shubert
Filed under: General •Immigration

Hundreds of voters were left angry and frustrated Thursday after being turned away from polling stations amid chaotic scenes, as voting closed in Britain's General Election.  

One student from Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's Sheffield constituency complained that fellow students had been discriminated against, with local residents put into separate queues.
 Read the full story

Posted by: CNN Digital Producer, Paul Armstrong
Filed under: Election •General •Polls •Social Media

London, England - Eighty boxes of pizza were just delivered to Labour HQ. You can't watch the returns on an empty stomach, right? Deputy Labour Leader Harriet Harman stopped by for a slice as she did the TV rounds. She tells me that it's too early to give in, and reminded me that in the 1992 elections here, the exit polls were wrong.

Right now, it's just me and three bored, hungry guys from the tabloids hanging around outside the HQ entrance.

The word is Gordon Brown will be coming here to meet with his staff in a few hours. There'll be a few more people here then ...

Posted by: CNN Correspondent Zain Verjee
Filed under: Election •General

London, England – Two last polls before Thursday's long-awaited general election both predict that David Cameron's Conservatives will fall just short of a majority when all the shouting is done.

YouGov, polling for The Sun newspaper (which has endorsed the Conservatives), sees the Tories nailing down between 300 and 310 seats. ComRes, polling for ITV News and The Indpendent newspaper (which endorsed the Liberal Democrats) anticipates they'll fall just below 300.

Remember that in the 650-seat House of Commons, 326 is an unassailable majority – but these numbers can get squishy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Richard Allen Greene, The CNN Wire
Filed under: Election •General •Polls

Witney, England - On the otherwise sober streets of the English market town of Witney, midday shoppers and bemused pensioners are being bothered by a man wearing an inflatable banana on his head.

"If you can't give us your vote, give us a smile!" he cries. Further down the street a fellow conspirator in a gold lamé top hat and oversized bow tie is haranguing passers by through a megaphone: "Vote for insanity! You know it makes sense!"

The political constituency of Conservative Party leader David Cameron, Witney is about as far from the sharp end of this election as it's possible to get.

Read the full story

Posted by: CNN Digital News Producer Simon Hooper
Filed under: Election •General

Conservative Party leader David Cameron buys food in a fish and chip shop in Long Town village on Tuesday during a non-stop 24-hour campaigning session before the general election. (AFP/Getty Images)

Politicians - especially those who know they are going to lose - like to say there's only one poll that matters, the one on election day.

That's usually whistling in the dark, but in this crazy campaign, it may actually be true, according to a startling new finding from ComRes: More than one out of three voters say they could still change their mind about which party to back.

That's right. After Cleggmania, the “bigoted woman,” “you should be ashamed,” the debates, the manifestos, the battle buses ... after all that, 38 percent of voters still haven't made up their minds.

And, unfortunately for those who want to see a big shake-up of the political system this year, Lib Dem voters are significantly more likely than Labour or Conservative backers to say they might switch at the last minute. Among Lib Dem supporters, 41 percent might pick someone else on Thursday, while for Labour it's 34 percent, and for the Tories it's 32 percent.

That might help explain a sudden drop in support for the Lib Dems in the latest poll by YouGov - Nick Clegg's party plunges to 24 percent, while the Conservatives are at 35 percent and Labour at 30 percent.

So once again that sage of the Bronx, baseball's Yogi Berra, seems to be right: It really ain't over until it's over.

ComRes for ITV News/The Independent

“It is quite possible that I will change my mind about which party to vote for between now and polling day”

                         All                    Lab                   Con                      LD
                         %                      %                     %                     %
Agree               38                     34                     32                    41%
Disagree          56                     58                     63                    58%

Voting Intention

Conservatives 37 percent

Labour 29 percent

Liberal Democrats 26 percent

Others 8 percent.

ComRes telephoned 1,024 GB adults May 2-3, 2010.                                   

 YouGov for The Sun

Voting intention

Conservative 35 percent

Labour 30 percent

Liberal Democrat 24 percent

Others 11 percent

YouGov polled 1,461 people May 3- 4

Posted by: Richard Allen Greene, The CNN Wire
Filed under: Election •General •Polls

Posted by: CNN Correspondent Atika Shubert
Filed under: Election •General •Immigration