Michael Sercan Daventry
21 September 2016•Update: 21 September 2016
LONDON
Voting concluded Wednesday in the battle to lead Britain’s main opposition Labour Party - an election that was triggered by the vote to leave the European Union.
Leader Jeremy Corbyn and a single challenger, Owen Smith, spent the summer canvassing more than half a million eligible voters in the contest.
Corbyn, who is a veteran of Labour’s left wing, was elected leader with 59.5% of the membership vote last September.
However, he has since been criticized by centrist figures in the party who believe his policies do not appeal to the wider British electorate.
The challenge to his leadership was triggered after the U.K. voted to leave the EU in June, with Corbyn’s opponents saying he ran a lackluster campaign to remain in the 28-country bloc.
Smith, a lawmaker representing an electoral district in Wales, said Corbyn and his supporters had left Britain’s main opposition party divided.
“Our party is at a crossroads, and the choice we face is between renewing our party to pursue unity and power, or satisfying ourselves with ongoing division and opposition,” Smith said in an open letter on the grassroots website LabourList Wednesday. “It’s the clearest choice we have had to face in a generation. A choice that will not just determine the future of our party, but the future of the millions of people in Britain who need Labour in power,” he said.
Corbyn is widely tipped to win the contest in which around 640,000 party members and registered supporters were eligible to vote.
The winner will be declared at a special party conference on Saturday.
