KARUNA SHINSHO, CNN ANCHOR: Voting is under way in Britain's general election. Within the next 24 hours, Prime Minister Tony Blair should know whether his ruling Labor government has won a second term in office. Sheila MacVicar has more.</s>SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Across Britain, the polls have opened. They'll stay open until 10:00 p.m. British time tonight, with nearly 45 million people eligible to cast their ballot. At stake, the 659 seats of the House of Common. The leaders of all the parties spent the night in their constituencies around the country.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, everybody.</s>MACVICAR: The first leader to cast his ballot this morning was conservative William Hague, voting with this wife Theone (ph) in Catarac (ph), North Yorkshire. Labor leader Tony Blair went to the polls in his neighboring constituency of Sedgfield (ph). He'll head to London later today. Voter turnout is a factor in the outcome of any election. The last election in 1997 saw the lowest turnout in more than 50 years. There are concerns this year more voters may not be moved to go to the polls. But traffic at polling station alone will not be good test of turnout. New rules prevent anyone who chooses to vote by post. One estimate is that as many as one in five UK voters may vote by mail. Sheila MacVicar, CNN, London.
Voting Under Way in Britain's General Election