Diverse elections: UK and US contrasts

By Garret Martin, American University School of International Service Long, drawn-out campaigns just aren’t Rishi Sunak’s cup of tea. Chris J Ratcliffe/WPA Pool/Getty Images. Voters in the United Kingdom on May 22 learned the date they would be joining the many, many people casting ballots around the world in 2024. In a surprise move, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a snap election to be held on July 4 – six months earlier than many had expected. An early election is certainly a major gamble for the prime minister but one he felt was worth taking. With the ruling Conservative Party more than 20 percentage points behind opposition Labour in the latest polls, Sunak faces an uphill battle to stay in office. The Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, is heavily favored to return to power for the first time since 2010. To a U.S. audience, many of the top issues in the election campaign will sound familiar: the economy, immigration, health care, Ukraine and Gaza. The choice of date, too, may ring a bell – and political soothsayers are already trying to read into what it means for the U.K. election to fall on Independence Day. U.K. elections can be...