Last time Croydon Central went to the polls, it was Gavin Barwell of the Conservative Party that came out on top. But with just 165 votes separating himself and Labour’s Sarah Jones last time around, the people proved it was no safe seat.

When people cast their vote this Thursday, they will have seven candidates to choose from. Including the previously mentioned Barwell and Jones, the candidates in the running are the Christian Peoples Alliance’s John Boadu, Green Party’s Tracey Hague, Liberal Democrat’s Gill Hickson, UKIP’s Peter Staveley and Independent Don Locke.

Pollsters Yougov have Jones just edging it with an estimated 45 per cent of the vote to Barwell's 42 per cent.

The Croydon South electorate sees just two of the candidates from 2015’s election returning for another shot. Those two candidates – Conservative’s Chris Philip and UKIP’s Katleen Garner – received the most and third most votes in 2015 respectively.

The four newcomers to the election include Liberal Democrat’s Anna Jones, Christian People’s David Omamogho, Labour’s Jennifer Braithwaite the Green’s Catherine Shelley. It wasn’t as tight in the South in 2015 as Phillip received more than 50 per cent of the total vote and more than double that of his nearest rival.

In similar form, Croydon North has seen its number of electoral candidates drop from eight to six. Once again, just two of the 2015 candidates have returned in 2017; those being Labour Co-op and eventual election winner Steve Reed and Independent Lee Berks.

The other four candidates are Green’s Peter Underwood, UKIP’s Michael Swadling, Liberal Democrat’s Maltby Pindar and Conservative’s Samuel Kasumu.

Croydon North was far and away had the biggest margin of victory last time around as Reed took just more than 62 per cent of the vote.

Voting will be open Thursday, June 8, from 7am until 10pm.