Tabnak – While the UK Prime Minister Theresa May expected a major win from the snap general elections in the country, the final results released late last night indicate that she has lost the majority in the parliament. This could considerably complicate the situation for her party ahead of the start of Brexit talks.
According to the election results on Friday, with 649 out of 650 seats declared, the Conservatives won 318 seats, short of the 326 they needed for an outright majority and well down from the 330 seats they had before May's leadership. Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party managed to clinch 261 seats.
The voters put the Scottish National Party (SNP) on 35 as the third-biggest group in the new House of Commons, the Liberal Democrats on 12, and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on 10. The pro-Brexit UK Independence Party (UKIP) failed to win a single seat.
As the two main rival parties failed to gain the 326 seats required for an absolute majority, speculations abounded that May would seek the support of Northern Ireland's DUP.
In the aftermath of the election results, some observers were speculating that May's resignation was almost a certain case for the party members. The Conservative bigwigs watching the vote count at Carlton Club in London overnight were discussing the candidacies of UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and UK Brexit Secretary David Davis for a new leader of the party and the country's prime minister. Some also discuss Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson.
However, later on the day, May vowed to form a government in coalition with the Unionist Party that will provide certainty. "I have just been to see Her Majesty the Queen, and I will now form a government – a government that can provide certainty and lead Britain forward at this critical time for our country,” she said.
After May’s remarks, Arlene Foster, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader, said she will talk to May about how the two parties can "bring stability” to Britain.
"In the days and weeks ahead it is the union that will go to the forefront of our minds. The union is our guiding star. We may represent Northern Ireland constituencies in the House of Commons, but we are as seized of the interests of the United Kingdom as a whole as we are for Northern Ireland,” she said.
However, according to Press TV, Heidi Allen, the newly re-elected MP for South Cambridgeshire, says she believes May "will be gone in the next six months."
"If this were any other election in any other time in our history, then you’d say, oh yes, the prime minister needs to stand down. But this is different, because we’re about to start negotiating, of course, with Brexit,” she said.
"We do need a prime minister at this moment. I don’t believe personally that Theresa May will stay as our prime minister indefinitely, in my view it may well be just a period of transition. We do need to get some stability,” she added.
It should be noted that May had called for snap elections in the hope of increasing the Tory majority and strengthening her hand in Brexit negotiations. However, with the declared results she will have even a harder way ahead to realize her plan in this regard.
