Thursday's elections in the United Kingdom do not appear to be as close as predicted. File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI |
License Photo
LONDON, May 7 (UPI) -- Britain's Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, celebrated late Thursday and into Friday morning as it appeared they have notched an historic victory in what some say is one of the most important elections in British history.
With some votes left to be counted, experts said exit polling indicated that the Conservative Party will continue to hold power over the opposing Labor Party, which had hoped to gain a significant swing in Parliament. Exit poll numbers were taken from about 22,000 voters at nearly 150 polling stations, the Guardian reported.
If the projections hold, Conservatives -- also called Tories -- will gain several seats in the government. Prior to Thursday's vote, the party held 302.
Before the vote, the BBC forecast Tories would end up with 316 seats, but early Friday adjusted that expectation to 325 seats -- meaning the party could still win an outright majority, which requires 326.
"Above all, I want to bring our country together, our United Kingdom, implementing as fast as we can devolution both for Wales and Scotland," Cameron said. "I want my party and a government I would like to lead to reclaim the mantle of one nation, one United Kingdom. That is how I will govern if I am fortunate enough to form a government."
The Tories' gains have shocked most analysts -- many of whom expected the two parties to be closer to a tie, at about 273 seats each in the 650-member Parliament.
"It's an astonishing result," former British minister Lord Mark Malloch-Brown said earlier Thursday. "The authority that this result would give David Cameron and the Tories would be huge, and the body blow to Labor equally big."
The Scottish National Party is also celebrating a big victory Friday as the numbers indicate a rout of the Labor Party in Scotland, one of its traditional strongholds.
The SNP's victories, along with the defeats of Labors and Liberal Democrats, may represent the biggest election surprise since the end of World War II, the Guardian reported and leave Scotland as largely a one-party state.
In addition to being perhaps one of the closest elections in Britain's history, some analysts and Cameron have said it may also be one of the most important -- as it could shape the nation's global influence for years and determine its relationship with the United States.
The Labor Party's Ed Miliband, who would have taken over as prime minister if his party gained enough seats, now faces an uncertain future. He effectively conceded defeat early Friday, saying he is "deeply sorry" about the result.
"This has clearly been a very disappointing and difficult night for the Labor Party," he said. "We haven't made the gains we wanted in England and Wales and in Scotland we have seen a surge of nationalism overwhelm our party.
"Now, I want to say to all the dedicated and decent colleagues in Scotland who have lost their seats that I am deeply sorry for what has happened."
Miliband is expected by some to resign from his post as Labor leader on Friday, as doing so is typically thought to be better for the party. That is preferable, the thinking goes, to a likely divisive struggle within the party to select new leadership.
Included in the Scottish surprise was the defeat of Miliband's campaign manager, Douglas Alexander, by 20-year-old politics student Mhairi Black -- who becomes the youngest member of Parliament since 1667.
