美国有线新闻 CNN 英国提前举行大选 首相梅政治豪赌（在线收听）

There's an important vote coming up in the United Kingdom next week. We mentioned it once before. It's an early or snap election. Though the country's general elections are scheduled to take place every five years, British Prime Minister Theresa May called for a vote this June because of divisions in parliamentary.

Here's what's happening: Prime Minister May is working to push through the Brexit, the British exit from the European Union. It's a controversial move for the country. Britons voted for it last summer, but they're still deeply divided over the decision. Those disagreements are reflected in the nation's government.

Most British lawmakers say they'll go through with the Brexit, but for Prime Minister May, the process would go much more smoothly if she had more members of her own political party, the Conservative Party, in parliament. She's hoping the early election will give her that.

Polls show the Conservative Party is in the lead, but there are questions about how much so. And the future of Britain's role in Europe hangs in the balance.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Not caring about the British on June the 8th would be like closing your eyes at a football match when someone's about to score a goal. Britain's standing in the world rides on Brexit and Brexit rides on this vote.

SUBTITLE: Why you should care about the U.K. election.

THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We need a general election and we need one now.

ROBERTSON: Prime Minister Theresa May's gamble is she will significantly increase her conservative majority and strengthen a hand of Brexit talks.

If she has called it wrong, she'll be in huff to her critics, hobbled at E.U. talks, less likely to deliver the prosperous Britain she promises.

Under such a scenario, Britain's force for good around the world would be under threat, less aid, less influence. However, the world should be reassured whatever the outcome, there is no overnight shift to an obsolete U.K., but a gradual decline and an evolving global order.

If May's calculus is correct, she will only have to battle in Brussels and not Westminster, one fight, not two. Overseas investors can breathe easier. International businesses look to new and better horizons from British bases.

But if you blink and the ball misses the back of the net, though this election like so many recently confounds the pundits, and the ball goes in any one of a number of myriad directions, good or bad, then you'll have taken your eye off the most critical game play upon which the future of one of the world's greats depends.