UK Election Result Sparks Chatter On How Scarily Accurate Exit Poll Was About Labour's Tally

The exit poll for UK elections is carried out together by major broadcaster in the UK and it has been more or less accurate in elections conducted in recent decades.

FPJ Web Desk Updated: Friday, July 05, 2024, 05:39 PM IST
UK PM Rishi Sunak (left) and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer | File Image

UK PM Rishi Sunak (left) and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer | File Image

As UK gets set to usher new era with Conservative Party's 14-year rule coming to an end, everyone is now looking at various aspects of elections and everything that had connection with it. There are many analysts who are deep-diving into election results and pondering what went wrong for heavyweight parties like the Tories

and Scottish National Party all the while appreciating the unbelievable comeback Labour Party made under Keir Starmer, the next prime minister of the United Kingdom.

But what has caught eyeballs the most is how scarily accurate exit poll was about Labour Party's performance. The exit poll, conducted together by UK's three major broadcasters; BBC, ITV and Sky News; predicted that Labour Party would bag 410 out of 650 seats in British Parliament.

And what's the actual number?

At the time of publishing of this news report, all results were in but for two seats, and Labour Party had bagged 412 seats.

Other predictions were a bit off but not by a great margin. The exit poll predicted Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party would win 131 seats. But in reality they did not manage to cross even 125 and were sulking at 121.

The exit poll underestmated the centrist Liberal Democrats and predicted it would win on 61 seats. But the Lib-Dems, as they are colloquially called, bagged 71.

The exit poll overestimated Nigel Farage's Reform UK Party and predicted a score of 13 for them. But only four of its candidates could win, one of whom is Nigel Farage himself, who finally became Member of Parliament after many many tries in past elections.

Media and online chatter is abuzz with this exit poll and comparisons are being made with exit polls conducted in other democratic countries. Exit polls in India for example were thoroughly ridiculed after many predicted 400+ seats for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But when the actual results were declared, BJP was not even able to cross 300 mark.

Published on: Friday, July 05, 2024, 05:39 PM IST

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