There are 122 aspiring MPs vying for the votes of Kent residents in the general election on July 4 this year.

However, only 18 of them will make the cut and sit in Parliament to represent the county for the next five years.

Who’s definitely not returning?

Prior to the election being called, some of Kent’s incumbent MPs had already announced their intention not to stand again.

Natalie Elphicke had sat as the Tory MP for Dover & Deal since 2019, but drew headlines in early May with her shock defection to the Labour Party.

Nonetheless, she is not restanding, with Labour’s Mike Tapp the prospective candidate there for well over a year - a sign of both Dover’s importance to the party’s leadership as a seat to take, and of Mr Tapp’s favour with Labour chiefs.

Craig Mackinlay had represented South Thanet (a seat now abolished in the boundary review) since 2015. He only returned to Parliament on May 22 after eight months in recovery from a shock sepsis diagnosis, which left him undergoing multiple limb amputations. However, later that very same day, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the election would be taking place on July 4. Subsequently, Mr Mackinlay announced he would not fight again for the new East Thanet seat, saying he would be unable to campaign during his recovery.

Tracey Crouch, the former MP for Chatham and Aylesford since 2010, announced in February that she would not be standing again this year - citing her 2020 cancer diagnosis and recovery as a sign she needs a new professional challenge.

Greg Clark had served as Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells since 2005, but announced on May 24 that he would not stand again. His resignation triggered a brief succession race which drew in famous LBC radio host Iain Dale, who sought nomination as the next Tory candidate. However, after his previous comments saying he “never really liked” Tunbridge Wells surfaced, he withdrew from the race.

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Gordon Henderson - who was also elected in 2010 - announced in March last year that he would not be having another shot at his Sittingbourne & Sheppey constituency.

So, regardless of what happens at the ballot box, Kent will get at least six new faces in the Commons, due to five MPs not standing again, and one new seat being created.

All other previous members - technically not MPs right now as Parliament has been dissolved - are standing for their seats again.

How many constituencies are up for grabs?

Kent has 18 seats, up from 17 at the last election with the creation of the new Weald of Kent constituency.

In total, 122 candidates are standing, of which 42 are women. Kent’s voters have a lot to choose from in the next election, though some more than others.

The five major parties - Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dem, Greens and Reform - are all putting people up in every single seat.

Our county has been a Tory stronghold for quite some time - the ruling party won 16 out of the 17 Kent seats at the last general election in 2019. However, the polls suggest the Conservatives could take a beating in this forthcoming election.

The latest research by Electoral Calculus - a poll of polls - says the Tories could be knocked down to only three seats in Kent - Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and the newly created Weald of Kent. The Liberal Democrats are slated to take Tunbridge Wells - having come second there in the last general election. All 14 other seats are predicted to go to the Labour Party, who are on course for a landslide majority nationally under these polls.

Which are the seats to watch?

Dartford and Dover have long been considered bellwether seats - with the MPs for both generally being members of the party of national government at most elections for the last 50 years. So while it’s not an exact science, if either or both of these seats turn red, it’s a good sign for Labour nationally - especially as both had hefty Tory majorities at the last election.

What about the smaller parties and independents?

As well as the big parties all voters will have heard of, general election season brings out many minuscule parties which are obscure even to the most engaged observers. A few seats have only candidates from the five major parties, but in others the ballot paper will look like a scroll of independent and fringe candidates.

On the more well-known end is the Workers Party of Britain, which is standing candidates in Dover, Chatham & Aylesford and Rochester & Strood. Founded in 2019 by veteran former politician and media personality George Galloway, the party was catapulted to prominence when he won a surprise victory in the 2024 Rochdale by-election.

The party positions itself as being to the left of Labour and emphasises international affairs - particularly the war in Gaza and Labour’s position on it. Whether or not the voters of Kent will place Gaza in the front of their minds when casting their vote in July remains to be seen.

While they don’t have any MPs - the Social Democratic Party (SDP) is reputable at least to those who live and breathe politics. The party traces its lineage to the original SDP, which split from Labour in 1981, and a faction thereof which didn’t merge with the Liberals to form what we now know as the Lib Dems. The modern party boasts only three elected representatives - all councillors in Leeds.

However, positioning itself as “left on the economy and right on culture”, the party has gained some national media attention. In Kent, it is standing candidates in five seats: Canterbury, Chatham & Aylesford, Gillingham & Rainham, Sevenoaks, and Tonbridge.

On the much more obscure end is the Christian People’s Alliance - putting forward candidates only in Chatham & Aylesford and Gillingham & Rainham. The right-wing Christian party previously had a few councillors elsewhere in the country in the noughties, but is otherwise marginal. The market for explicitly religious parties in the UK is limited to say the least, except in Northern Ireland.

Of a similar bent is the fringe right-wing Heritage Party, fielding candidates in Dover and Rochester & Strood. Their only ever elected representative was their founder David Kurten, on the London Assembly from 2016-2021, who defected from Ukip to form the party.

Folkestone has become an unwitting battleground of far-left sects, with the Socialist Party of Great Britain and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition both putting forward candidates. The ‘Fairer Voting Party’ is also trying its hand in that area - a single-issue party calling for constitutional and electoral reform.