Record number of women elected to British parliament

June 9 (UPI) -- More women than ever were elected to seats in the United Kingdom's House of Commons parliamentary elections this week, election counts show.

While no party won a majority on Thursday, at least 200 women were elected or re-elected. They outnumber the 196 women who won seats in the last parliament after the 2015 election and by-elections.

The previous high of 191 women elected in a single general election, in 2015, was also beaten.

The House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower parliamentary house, has 650 seats.

Some consider the election date significant. It was on June 8, 1913 that suffragette Emily Wilding Davison died while campaigning for British women's right to vote. She was crushed under the weight of a horse by King George V as it ran in the Epsom Derby. Davison had a reputation for extreme protest tactics, and it is believed she threw herself under the animal to highlight her cause.

Her death was noted Thursday on Parliament's official Twitter account, reminding its 1 million followers to vote.