Ipsos Election Polls

With almost all the results counted, the results of the 2010 General Election closely mirror the predictions in Ipsos's final week polling.

EXIT POLL: SEAT PROJECTIONS

Just as in 2005 (where the Exit Poll exactly predicted Labour's 66-seat majority), the General Election Exit Poll this year has projected the outcome of the election very accurately.

The results of the Ipsos / GfK NOP exit poll, commissioned by the BBC, Sky and ITV News, were released at 10pm on Thursday 6 May. The 10pm results predicted that the Conservatives would win 307 seats, Labour would win 255 and the Liberal Democrats 59 seats (these can be seen in the picture projected onto Big Ben). An hour later the final exit poll results predicted the Conservatives would win 305 seats, Labour would win 255 and the Liberal Democrats would win 61 seats.

At the time of writing, this projection looks to be very close to the final outcome. With one seat to be called the Conservatives have won 306 seats, Labour have won 258 and the Lib Dems 57.

For this poll, Ipsos and GfK NOP surveyed 17,607 voters at 130 polling stations across Great Britain.

EVE-OF-ELECTION POLL: NATIONAL SHARE AND TURNOUT PROJECTIONS

Our final poll, carried out on 5 May and published in the Evening Standard on Election Day (6 May), put the Conservatives on 36%, Labour on 29% and the Liberal Democrats on 27%, with a turnout projection of 66%.

At the time of writing, the GB share of the vote is Conservative 37%, Labour 30% and Liberal Democrats 24%, with a turnout of 65%.

An overview of the the campaign opinion polls will shortly be available160from the British Polling Council.160

We will provide further assessments on campaign polling and the wider political scene as it evolves during the next week.