Seven questions you might have about the UK’s snap July general election

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took the biggest gamble of his troubled premiership Wednesday, calling an early general election that almost everyone in Westminster believes he will lose.

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has taken the biggest gamble of his troubled premiership by calling an early general election that almost everyone in Westminster believes he will lose. We’ll know soon enough whether the decision was a masterstroke or a misfire. A frenetic six-week campaign will dominate airwaves in the UK – once again putting political battles front and center in a country fatigued by a turbulent stretch for the state. If, as current polls indicate, the opposition Labour party triumph, it will finally bring down the curtain of a 14-year era of Conservative rule, ushering in a center-left government led by former barrister Keir Starmer. Any other outcome would mean Sunak has orchestrated a shocking victory that even many in his own party believe is beyond reach – and would result in the Conservatives extending a political dynasty toward the two-decade mark. Here are some key questions answered.