ANKARA
The leaders of five British opposition parties will take part in a live TV debate Thursday ahead of the country’s general election next month.
Those taking part are: Ed Miliband of the center-left main opposition Labour Party, Nicola Sturgeon of the left-wing separatist Scottish National Party, Leanne Wood of the left-wing Welsh separatist Plaid Cymru, Natalie Bennett of the left-wing environmentalist Green Party and Nigel Farage of the right-wing anti-EU, anti-immigrant United Kingdom Independence Party.
David Cameron of the center-right Conservative Party and Nick Clegg of the centrist Liberal Democrat Party formed a coalition government in 2010, after elections in the same year resulted in a hung parliament. They will both be absent from the debate as it is intended for opposition leaders only.
The debate follows the unveiling of the parties’ manifestos this past week.
Sturgeon was widely considered the winner of the last leaders’ debate and the rise of her party's popularity in Scotland, a traditional Labour stronghold, threatens Miliband’s chances of forming a majority government.
A poll released earlier this week gave SNP a 28-point lead over Labour. Just over half of Scottish voters, 52 percent, said they would vote SNP, with only 24 percent saying they would vote Labour.
This is almost double the lead from last month, when the SNP were on 46 percent and Labour 30 percent.
Farage will be the only right-wing voice on the panel and will likely use the opportunity to encourage voters to defect from the Conservatives, whose chances of forming a majority government are being undermined by the rise of UKIP.
The debate is the third of four due to take place before the election and will begin at 2000GMT.
It will be moderated by veteran presenter David Dimbleby and broadcast on the BBC.
The final leaders’ debate will be between the leaders of the three main party leaders – Cameron, Clegg and Miliband – a week before polling day.
The U.K. general election will take place on May 7, 2015.
