Election Betting.com

UK Voters to follow Iraq lead and stay at home?

Turnout in General Elections is always one of the factors the analysts are most interested in.  Although the turnout in UK elections remained remarkably stable between 1955 and 1997 it has fallen sharply in the last two General Elections.  Just 61.4% of the electorate voted in 2005 compared to 77.7% in 1992.

However, this fall isn’t necessarily just a UK issue.   The voter turnout in Iraq's general elections this week was 62%, officials said, despite attacks that killed 38 people.  This figure had also fallen since 2005 where the turnout was 75%.

Turnout in the UK has been affected by all manner of issues – the perceived closeness of the result, the weather and, famously, whether Coronation Street was on the TV that day (a reason why Elections were commonly held on a Thursday as the Street didn’t used to be shown that night).

The favourite in the ‘turnout’ market for the 2010 election is 65-69.99% at 6/4.  As the Election draws closer and the result becomes more and more difficult to predict, I actually think we could see a turnout higher than we have for some years.  The last two occasions that we have had a very close election (in 1974 and 1992) the turnout was in the high seventy per cent range and so I like the 11/4 about more than 70% of us turning out in 2010.

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