VOTES are being cast across Ynys Môn and Arfon in one of the most keenly-contested General Elections in decades.

Opinion polls show the Conservative and Labour parties to be neck-and-neck, with all the indications that the country is heading for another hung parliament.

Ipsos MORI in the Evening Standard puts the Conservatives on 36% and Labour on 35% while the Ashcroft National Poll has the two parties tied on 33%.

Chronicle reporters Mike Williams and Tomos Hughes have been visiting polling stations in Môn and Arfon respectively to speak to voters. 

Holyhead Town Clerk Cliff Everett said turn out at the Town Hall polling station has been good, and has been looking busy since it opened.

Dan Brooks, aged 38, of Benllech, who has been voting since age 20, said: “I think the main parties are worried about the minority parties, and that is absolutely a good thing.

“A coalition can work, I think, because having another party there can balance the government and maybe stop them from being too extreme."

Olwyn Thorley, age 72, of Benllech, brought her dog Sophie to the polling station and knew exactly which way she wanted to vote.

She said: “I think these smaller parties are making the bigger parties more energetic in what they do, and how they are campaigning.”

Couple Glyn Hughes, aged 56, and Geraldine Powell, aged 55, both of Llangefni, entered the polls together but “voted very differently”.

When asked if they will be voting for the same party, Ms Powell said: “Absolutely not!

“I have always voted the same way and I was tempted by another party on the issue of immigration, I think you know who I’m talking about, but I didn’t see enough to change my mind.”

Elizabeth Jones, aged 84, of Llangefni, has voted the same way in every election since she first went to the polls in 1955.

“I have seen nothing to change my mind,” she said.

“They seem to be all over the place with what they are saying so it’s getting harder to tell them apart these days.”

In Arfon, Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen pupil, Bethan Hughes, aged 18, was accompanied by friend Annest Rawlinson, also 18, on her way to vote for the first time at Bethesda's Canolfan Cefnfaes.

She said: “I'm on the fence. It's the first time I've voted. There are a lot of pupils in Dyffryn Ogwen who will vote today.”

Annest, of nearby Rachub, whose father Paul is the Plaid Cymru candidate for the Delyn constituency in Flintshire, said she was “more certain” of her choice.

She added: “I don't have much interest in politics, but my twin brother does. But I think I should vote because I have the right to.”

Voter Keith Ashton, of Bethesda said: “People who don't vote can't complain, and the election only comes along every five years.”

Voter Dilys Pritchard, also of Bethesda, added: “I think it will be a hung parliament, that's what they keep saying on the television.”

Tellers in Ysgol y Wern, Y Felinheli, were predicting a solid turnout, with more than 150 votes cast from around 880 people by 1pm.

Lucy Williams, aged 25, was voting for the first time at the school, along with partner Mark Jones, aged 24.

She runs the Clwb y Garnedd child care firm in Bangor, and said: “As you get older, things get more important when you get a house and a car.