British Voters Set to Oust Gordon Brown as PM

LONDON (May 6) -- British voters today look set to throw out the ruling Labour Party of Prime Minister Gordon Brown. And the man who'll likely take his place in No. 10 Downing Street is David Cameron, leader of the center-right Conservative Party.

Right-wing tabloid The Sun, in a last-minute bid to bolster that trend, splashed its front page with a ripoff of the Obama campaign's viral "Hope" poster that read, "In Cameron We Trust: Our Only Hope." The pro-Labour Daily Mirror countered with a smug-looking photo of the Tory leader with the headline "Prime Minister? Really?"

Polling stations close at 10 p.m., and unless the race is very close, the winner should be clear by 1 a.m.

According to a Guardian/ICM poll, some 36 percent of voters will back the Conservatives, while the center-left Labour Party will claim 28 percent. The left-leaning Liberal Democrats -- who experienced a surge in support following strong performances by their leader Nick Clegg in three televised debates -- have slumped back to 26 percent.

That survey suggests Cameron's Conservatives, who have served 13 years in opposition, may fall just short of an overall majority in Parliament. However, latest numbers seem to reduce the chance of a "hung Parliament" -- where opposition politicians outnumber a minority administration -- as the Tories could count on the support of their old unionist party allies from Northern Ireland.

Today's vote brings an end to a fiercely fought, six-week general election campaign. As some polls suggest that up to one-third of voters are still undecided, the would-be prime ministers have battled up until the last minute in an attempt to win over wavering Brits. Cameron spent the last 36 hours on the road, wooing night workers at bakeries, fire stations and breweries, and then chatting with fishermen as they landed their morning catches.

As he ended his campaign last night, he admitted to eve-of-election jitters, saying that the final day of the battle had been a "nerve-racking time" and that while voters had grown skeptical of all politicians, he believed he had won "the big arguments."

However, a survey for the London Times Wednesday showed that Cameron himself had persuaded few people to back his party. Only 39 percent of people intending to vote Tory said they were doing so because they held positive views about Cameron, while 57 percent said they supported the Conservatives because of their negative opinion of Brown.

The Labour leader hasn't been discouraged by his apparent unpopularity. After a mediocre start to his campaign, Brown has appeared re-energized in recent days. He has hammered the Conservatives for offering "style over recovery" and repeatedly claimed they would endanger the economy with massive cuts in government spending and tax relief for the rich. On Wednesday he pledged to fight for the British people "with humility" if elected, saying, "With the same humility I ask for your vote."

His appeals appear to have persuaded some Brits to return to Labour. The left-of-center party last month saw its ratings slump as the newly popular Liberal Democrats -- who traditionally come in third in British elections -- overtook Labour in terms of the popular vote. But as the election has neared, the Lib Dems' level of support has slowly shrunk, with many wavering voters giving Labour their backing.

On Wednesday Liberal Democrat leader Clegg sought to rally his supporters, saying a vote for his party would help bring about "once-in-generation" change and dismantle the country's old two-party system. "In your heart of hearts, you know that if either of the two old parties win this election, nothing will really change," he told supporters in the English seaside town of Eastbourne. "We cannot let politics as usual triumph. ... Yours may be just one vote, but it could be the one that makes the difference, so use it."

Britain's leading extremist fringe party, meanwhile, hasn't had a good campaign. The far-right British National Party -- which wants to deport those it considers insufficiently British -- suffered a blow Wednesday to its already-tarnished image after one of its candidates was filmed punching and kicking an 18-year-old Asian man while out canvassing voters in east London.