Britons vote with war in Iraq on minds
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-05 22:34

LONDON - Voters cast ballots in village halls, schools and even pubs across Britain Thursday in a national election that is expected to give Prime Minister Tony Blair a third term in office despite widespread anger over the Iraq war.

Two small makeshift grenades exploded outside a building housing the British Consulate in New York early Thursday, causing slight damage to the building but injuring no one, American officials said. "We do not at this point have any idea who did it or a motive," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair (R) walks across a field with his wife Cherie to cast his vote in the general election, at Trimdon Colliery in northern England, May 5, 2005. British voters went to the polls on Thursday, with surveys suggesting Prime Minister Tony Blair will win a third consecutive term despite anger over his decision to go to war in Iraq. [Reuters]

There were no provisions for Britons to vote at the consulate, the Foreign Office in London said.

"We're not speculating about whether it's connected to the election," a spokeswoman said, adding that an investigation was under way.

Although most observers believed Blair's Labour Party would win the election thanks to the strength of the economy, anti-war sentiment and doubts about Blair's trustworthiness could deny him the landslide victories he won in 1997 and 2001.

Few expected Blair's main rival, Conservative Party leader Michael Howard, to become prime minister, but the Tories could pare back the number of seats Labour holds in the House of Commons. Blair's party had a huge 161-seat majority in the outgoing legislature; the new house will have 646 members.

If Labour's majority shrinks significantly, it could badly damage Blair, who would wield less power than in his first two terms and lose standing within his party.

"As far as the economy is concerned, we're doing fine. It's just the one big issue (the war). I find it appalling that thousands of people are lying out there dead, it just sickens me," said Gary Davis, a taxi driver who voted Conservative in north London.

"Labour haven't lived up to expectations and I don't like the Tory attitude," said Sue Kenworthy, a housewife who cast her ballot in the village hall at Hatfield Broad Oak, a small rural community 40 miles north of London. She voted for the Liberal Democrats, the second biggest opposition party.

Blair has said that if Labour wins he would serve a full third term but not run for a fourth. Observers have speculated, however, that he could hand power to his Treasury Chief Gordon Brown midterm if he is badly weakened in the election.

Lifelong Labour voter Carol Foskew, 59, stuck with Blair's party.

"I thought about it for a long time and was very confused," said Foskew, of Braintree, northeast of London. "I nearly changed my vote, but in the end I stayed with Labour."

The prime minister cast his own ballot with his wife, Cherie, and their two oldest children early Thursday in the village of Trimdon Colliery, which is part of the Sedgefield district that he represents in Parliament.

Blair, who turns 52 Friday, greeted waiting reporters but made no comment about the ballot.

Turnout could be crucial. The last general election in 2001 saw a turnout of 59 percent — the lowest since troops returned in 1918 at the end of World War I.

This year's brief but hard-hitting campaign exposed the depth of Britons' anger at the prime minister, whose formidable political skills once charmed voters who saw him as a fresh face of change after 18 years of Tory government in the 1980s and '90s.

Blair's decision to commit the country to war in Iraq and his centrist stance on domestic issues — including plans to partly privatize some public services — have infuriated many within his own party.

But he has benefited from the Conservatives' even greater unpopularity and a perception that the opposition is less capable of handling the economy.

Howard headed a focused Tory campaign, pounding on just a few issues — tightening immigration, cutting taxes, cleaning up hospitals. Although Howard supported the Iraq war, he attacked Blair, accusing the prime minister of lying about intelligence and the legality of the invasion and lacking a plan to win the peace.

"There was only one party that is prepared to take a firm line and to cap the number of immigrants," said Valerie Johnston, a Conservative supporter and retiree. She voted in the 16th-century Flitch of Bacon pub in the village of Little Dunmow, north of London.

The blasts in New York occurred at 3:35 a.m. The grenades — actually toys filled with gunpowder — had been placed in a cement flower box outside the front door of the midtown Manhattan building, police said.

Bloomberg said he expected the building would be open for business.

Police in London said there was no specific terrorist threat against the election but said they would "have an appropriate policing plan in place which will include an increase in a high-visibility presence at key sites across the capital."

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