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The UK goes to the polls on Thursday for a general election that is expected to see the main opposition Labour Party return to power after 14 years.
Here are the main players in the national vote.
Labour leader Keir Starmer is a former human rights lawyer and chief prosecutor who pollsters predict will win the election and become prime minister.
Starmer, 61, is credited with bringing his party back to the centre and stamping out anti-Semitism since succeeding left-winger Jeremy Corbyn as party leader in April 2020.
His supporters see him as a pragmatic and confident figure, ideally suited to managing Britain's exit from economic decline.
Critics accuse it of being an uninspiring about-face who failed to articulate a clear vision for the country during a cautious campaign.
Starmer was born in London to a toolmaker father and a nurse mother. His unusual first name was his socialist parents' homage to Labour's founding father, Keir Hardie.
The football enthusiast and Arsenal fan was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to criminal justice, but rarely uses the prefix 'Sir' before his name.
Sunak, 44, is seeking his own mandate from the British public after being installed as Conservative leader, and thus prime minister, by his own MPs in October 2022.
He succeeded Liz Truss, who was ousted after just 49 days in office after her tax-cut economic agenda spooked markets and caused her to lose her party's support.
Sunak, of Indian origin, is the United Kingdom's first British Prime Minister of Asian and Hindu origin.
The former financier was credited with stabilizing the government after the chaos of Truss and Boris Johnson's prime ministerships and reducing inflation.
However, he failed to deliver on several promises, including reducing healthcare waiting lists, ending irregular immigration and sending migrants to Rwanda.
Sunak ran a lackluster and incident-strewn campaign, which began with announcing the election date in the rain and was criticized for skipping the main D-Day anniversary event.
Opinion polls give him one of the lowest approval ratings ever among prime ministers.
This 60-year-old former MEP, beer lover and cigarette smoker, is one of the most divisive figures in British politics.
Former US President Donald Trump dubbed him “Mr Brexit” after he helped persuade a majority of Britons in 2016 to vote to leave the European Union.
The arch-eurosceptic is, however, a perennial loser at Westminster and is seeking to become an MP for the eighth time.
He leads the far-right Reform UK party, which polls suggest could deprive the Conservatives of several key seats needed for re-election.
Farage has been embroiled in a racism scandal after several reformist activists were filmed making racist and homophobic comments.
The Reform Party, co-founded by Farage in 2018, disavowed three candidates over the weekend over offensive comments.
Farage was also criticised for saying the West had “provoked” Russia into invading Ukraine.
Neither Ed Davey's Liberal Democrats nor John Swinney's Scottish National Party (SNP) will win the election, but they could have a say in who wins.
Davey, 58, is hoping his party can prevent a Conservative victory by winning several seats in the south of England as it looks to overtake the SNP to regain its position as the third largest party in parliament.
He mixed campaigning on serious issues such as adult social care and polluted waterways with irreverent stunts like falling off a paddleboard and tackling an obstacle course.
Swinney, 60, does not sit in the UK parliament but is first minister of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, having taken over as SNP leader in May following the resignation of Humza Yousaf.
His SNP is struggling to fend off a Labour resurgence in Scotland that could dash its independence hopes for a generation.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer, 38, is hoping to win the new Bristol Central seat as the fringe party aims to increase its representation from one to four MPs.
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