Brown, currently on the back foot with several Labour MPs criticising him for his leadership and recent policy decisions, has seen his popularity dwindle in recent opinion polls.

The polls show a much higher rating for the Conservative party and its leader David Cameron who has been fiercely criticising Brown.

By various accounts, including those expressed within Labour, the party is expected to fare poorly in the local elections.

If the Labour candidate for the London mayoral election, Ken Livingstone, loses, it will further queer the pitch for Brown.

Questions are already being raised within the party if Brown would be able to lead the party to victory in the next general elections, expected to be held in 2010.

There are increasing demands that Brown should be replaced as the party leader just before the general elections.

In all, 4,023 seats are up for election in England and Wales on Thursday.

The last time most of them were contested was in 2004 when Labour lost 412 councillors and slumped to 26 percent of the vote.

Analysts believe that Brown's goal would be to beat last year's result of 27 percent of the vote.

He will have limited reason to cheer if he hits 28 to 30 percent, while more than 30 percent would be a triumph in the face of adversity.

Anything less than 27 percent will raise questions about when Brown will join former Prime Minister Tony Blair in retirement.

Failure by the Conservative party to exceed 40 percent of the vote will raise questions about Cameron's ability to capitalise on Labour woes and break through to new voters.

Brown had a difficult April with reports of former Labour fund raiser Lord Levy quoting Blair as having told him that Labour would not win the next general elections under Brown.

Blair's office has since denied such anti-Brown remarks.

Labour had won the first by-election after Brown assumed office, when party candidate Virendra Sharma won the Ealing Southall election in July 2007.

Source: by DDNEWS