For the third time in four years, the British vote on Thursday in the fateful early elections for the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU) and the future of the country. Cécile Ducourtieux, correspondent of the World in London, answered questions from Internet users Monde.fr on the issues of the poll.
Page Contents
Antoine: Are some heavyweights in Parliament in trouble for re-election?
Cecile Ducourtieux: Yes. Boris Johnson's constituency (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, north-west London), where a young Labor Party (Ali Milani) has struggled for the last six weeks to take his place, with the support of Labor activists, will have to be watched. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, in the constituency of Esher and Walton, is also very threatened: a Libdem candidate could take away his position.
Also under threat: Theresa May, Maidenhead, and Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative Party Leader, Chingford. Labor side, Jeremy Corbyn and his close guard appear on seats rather safe. On the other hand, historic bastions of Labor are under threat: the results will have to be watched in Dudley North, Bishop Auckland or Workington, Labor constituencies, but having strongly voted "Leave" in 2016.
Antoine: How to explain the collapse of LibDems in the polls?
This is indeed one of the big surprises of this campaign: Labor being left on a program very left and conservatives on a Brexit "hard", there was a priori a boulevard in the center for all moderates.
But the position of the party leader, Jo Swinson, did not work at all in the opinion. She began her campaign by saying she wanted to become " Prime Minister " while his chances of succeeding there are almost nil (the elected LibDem were only a small score before the dissolution of Parliament in early November). Mostly, Jo Swinson has campaigned for "Revoke section 50", that is, canceling the Brexit process altogether. This promise was considered largely undemocratic by the British: they still voted in June 2016 to leave the European Union, and this referendum was supposed to be "That of a generation".
Jim: Do Labor have a chance to be in the majority?
The British are very cautious about their polls, which have been regularly deceived in previous polls. It must be said that the voting system (first past the post) does not facilitate the work of the pollsters: they must compile 650 local elections (one vote for a member in his constituency, and there are 650 constituencies, including 533 for England, 59 for Scotland, 40 for Wales and 18 for Northern Ireland).
