The first results of the partial English locals indicate an advantage for the Labor Party, now in opposition. Although the consolidated results will be known on Friday, the preliminary data released already speak of a possible punishment vote towards Boris Johnson. Elections were also held in Northern Ireland, with the Sinn Féin party, the former political arm of the IRA, as the favourite. Until Friday or Saturday the total scrutiny in the north of the island will not be known.
The count of the partial municipal elections held this Thursday in England continues. At 10:00 p.m. local time, the schools closed and the vote count is expected to last through Friday. While waiting to know the final results, the first data of the vote speak at this time of an advantage for the Labor Party against the conservatives of the current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
Although Labor already had control of most of the 146 English councils that are under popular scrutiny in local elections, initial results suggest that they will retain control in many of those councils. However, Labor’s aim is to win over the Tories, the Conservatives, local governments in the north and south-west of England, especially the more conservative enclaves of the City of London.
During the early morning, Sunderland, to the north, was the first large municipal council where the counting of the votes ended, a fiefdom of the English progressives that the Labor Party has managed to retain, although with a less pompous majority than in 2018.
The rest of the results will be announced throughout the morning and on Friday.
This Thursday local elections were also held in Wales and Scotland, where all the municipal councils will be renewed and where the count advances
The partial local elections, which took place in less than half of the English municipalities, will be a thermometer to know to what extent, or not, Prime Minister Johnson and his Administration have worn themselves out.
The sensations of the different English political formations
The Labor advantage can already give indications of a punishment vote towards the president, whose leadership is in the spotlight for the scandal known as “Partygate”, parties in which the prime minister participated illegally in his Downing offices Street during the most severe lockdowns caused by the pandemic.
“We start behind in the polls. These are difficult elections for the ‘Tories’,” the minister for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, told the BBC, showing the pessimism of the Conservatives, who could lose London strongholds such as Wandsworth or Westminster.
For his part, the Labor leader, Keir Starmer, also has pressure in these elections, since he needs results that strengthen his candidacy for the 2024 general elections, where he aspires to take the position from Johnson.
As some polls already indicate, the results of the partial local elections can also be an oxygen valve for the third English party, the Liberal-Democrats, who also aspire to win the Conservatives in municipalities in the southwest, known as “the blue wall “.
For other more humble formations, such as the Greens, these elections represent an opportunity to significantly improve their results.
In Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin starts as favorites
Although the final results in Northern Ireland will not be known until Friday, or even Saturday, the regional elections this Thursday may represent a change in the historical paradigm, since Sinn Féin, the former nationalist party political arm of the IRA terrorist group, starts as a favorite and can achieve electoral victory for the first time in history.
Northern Ireland society chose this Friday the members of the Assembly and who will be its next prime minister and deputy prime minister.
If the results confirm the victory of Sinn Féin, in line with what was predicted by the latest polls, this would mean an unprecedented political shift on the island, which would force a reconfiguration of power both in the institutions of the capital, Belfast, and in London.
The Good Friday Agreements of 1998 laid the foundations for a power-sharing scenario. Until now, the balance has always tipped towards the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is in favor of the integration of Northern Ireland into the United Kingdom as a whole, something that Sinn Féin does not contemplate, which is committed to a reunification of the Irish island .
According to the polls, the DUP would obtain 20% of the voting intention, six points less than Sinn Féin.
Pending the official data from the vote, if the demoscopy has not failed, the nationalist formation could present its candidate, Michelle O’Neill, as the future Northern Irish prime minister. Although, in that case, her victory would be limited by the counterweight of the DUP, it could aggravate the crisis of Northern Irish unionism, which since 2017 shows signs of stagnation.
With information from EFE and local media
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