United Kingdom Voters Head To The Polls In ‘Super Thursday’ Elections

With the international political scene currently focused on the United States presidential election, elections in other parts of the world can be easily overlooked. However, voters in the United Kingdom today head to the polls to vote in their “Super Thursday” elections. Whilst the elections won’t be used to elect a country-wide government in the United Kingdom, they will elect members to several local authorities across the country and subsequently provide a feel of the political mood in the United Kingdom right now.

According to BBC News, the elections are being dubbed “Super Thursday” because of the various different local authority elections happening in the United Kingdom. First and foremost, representatives will be elected to each of the United Kingdom’s regional assemblies in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. This is alongside local council elections in the rest of England. “Super Thursday” will also bring with it several new mayors in the United Kingdom’s main cities, including Bristol, Liverpool, Salford, and of course London. It’s also worth noting that parliamentary by-elections are being held in two constituencies, meaning that the United Kingdom’s parliament will have two new representatives also.

Not to be forgotten are police and crime commissioners, with voters across the United Kingdom also making their choice as to who will lead their local police force. As far as elections go, “Super Thursday” in the United Kingdom is certainly going to be an eventful one.

However, according to the Guardian, there’s a lot more riding on these elections in the United Kingdom than just who will represent the population on a local level. For the Labour party’s opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, this will be the biggest test of his leadership since he was elected last year. The new leader has received heavy criticism for his radical left leaning views from within his own party and across the political spectrum. The local elections are now being used to determine whether his party, under their new leadership, will still be able to maintain their traditional working class support across the United Kingdom.

“Super Thursday” is set to be a big day for Prime Minister David Cameron also. His Conservative party picked up a surprise majority in last year’s general election, but the party is currently buckling under the pressure of the upcoming referendum on the United Kingdom’s EU membership. With that in mind, David Cameron will be looking to use this election to gauge an idea of how much support his party still has across the country and if possible, cement their mandate to govern.

Polls across the United Kingdom opened at 7 a.m. BST and are set to close at 10 p.m. BST. However, voting so far hasn’t gone without a hitch. The United Kingdom’s electoral commission is reporting that some polling stations across the country did not have the correct list of names, with voters being instructed to return later with their polling cards. The United Kingdom still opts for traditional paper ballots over electronic voting, which can often lead to issues in terms of incorrect lists being issued.

For many voters across the United Kingdom, local elections are easily disregarded. However, “Super Thursday” sees a number of different elections to a number of different authorities happening at the same time, adding a good deal of significance to the day. In comparison to the American political system, the United Kingdom’s local elections are often seen as midterm elections. Whilst not directly electing representatives to the country’s parliament, “Super Thursday” will provide a gauge of the current political mood in the country and will be seen by David Cameron’s Conservative party as a judgement of their progress by voters.

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