May 7, 2005

How to Follow the UK General Election

by Liberty and Power

The UK is five hours ahead of the East Coast and eight hours ahead of the West. I went to the BBC website here and substituted U.S. times for those readers who wish to follow the results as they are declared.

2:00 AM (EDT) and 11:00 PM (PDT) polls open for the 2005 general election.

5:00 PM (EDT) and 2:00 PM (PDT): Polls close up and down the country. Not only are voters choosing their respective Members of Parliament but voters in England and Northern Ireland are also selecting three mayors and a host of councillors.

Just one minute later the BBC will broadcast the results of an exit poll based on a sample of 13,000 voters from 320 polling stations in marginal constituencies.

The first result of the night is expected by 6:30 PM (EDT) and 3:30 PM (PDT), and perhaps as early as 5:45 PM (EDT) and 2:45 PM (PDT). The race to be first is traditionally intense, with Houghton and Washington East, Sunderland North and Sunderland South likely to be among the contenders. Sunderland South won the race in 1992, 1997 and 2001. The fastest ever count took place at a by-election in 1928 in Ashton-under-Lyne, where the mayor arranged for coloured rockets to be fired from the town hall roof to declare the result. I think I’m correct in saying that the last time a parliamentary election was tied was also in Ashton-under-Lyne—in 1885.

7:00 PM (EDT) and 4:00 PM (PDT). The first trickle of results should turn into a torrent in the next hour, with more than 30 declarations expected at 7:30 PM/4:30 PM alone. First result from Scotland, in Na h-Eileanan an Iar (formerly the Western Isles), expected at 7:01 PM/4:01 PM, and first in Wales, in Islwyn, expected at 7:30 PM/4:30 PM.

8:00 PM (EDT) and 5:00 PM (PDT): By now nearly 150 results should be in, and the likely shape of the next parliament should be clear.

9:00 PM (EDT) and 6:00 PM (PDT): Following a frenetic 60 minutes or so, results should now be in from more than half of the 659 seats being contested.

11:00 PM (EDT) and 8:00 PM (PDT): A surge of late results expected. Carmarthen West and Pembrokeshire South due to be last result declared in Wales.

12:00 AM (EDT) and 9:00 PM (PDT): By now all but a handful of results from the mainland should be in.

8:00 AM (EDT) and 5:00 AM (PDT): Last result in England, the sprawling rural Yorkshire seat of Skipton and Ripon, due.

9:00 AM (EDT) and 6:00 AM (PDT): Last of the mainland constituencies, Argyll and Bute in Scotland, due to declare.

11:00 AM (EDT) and 8:00 AM (PDT): The first of the 18 Northern Ireland constituencies expected to declare. Expect Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party to do well.

4:00 PM (EDT) and 1:00 PM (PDT): The last of the 646 seats, Newry and Armagh, expected to declare.

Strictly speaking, only 645 constituencies will declare tonight and tomorrow. Last Saturday the Liberal Democrat candidate for South Staffordshire died so there will be no election today but a by-election next month.