TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Polls opened across the UK on Thursday morning as voters are set to elect a number of local councils and several mayors, as well as the composition of the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.
The vote is expected to see major gains for the far-right Reform party as well as the left-wing Greens, while the ruling, center-left Labour Party is likely to face major losses, piling further pressure on embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
What is being voted for in today's UK elections?
Some 5,000 local council seats are up for grabs across 136 councils, with six mayoral contests also being decided.
The devolved parliaments in Scotland, known as Holyrood, and in Wales, known as the Senedd, are also being voted for.
While local councils are responsible for issues such as garbage collection and potholes, the vote will most likely be seen by voters as a referendum on the prime minister.
Labour is expecting to lose ground in Wales, where it has been the biggest party since devolution, and in Scotland to nationalist parties — Plaid Cymru and the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) respectively.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) and will close at 10 p.m. with most results expected by Friday afternoon.
Why are the UK local elections important for Starmer?
Despite coming to power with a huge majority in July 2024, mostly thanks to the UK's complicated first-past-the-post voting system, Labour and, in particular Keir Starmer, have slumped in the polls.
The prime minister came close to being ousted by his own party in February after the scandal broke about the close friendship between Peter Mandelson and deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson had been appointed by Starmer's government as ambassador to Washington, but the release of the Epstein files showed that Mandelson had maintained a close relationship with the disgraced financier for years, even possibly providing him with illegal insider information.
That scandal saw Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar call for Starmer's resignation. Starmer managed to survive, but analysts expect a poor performance in Thursday's vote — which is what polls predict — could trigger a renewed push from within the party to get rid of Starmer.
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