UK Election: British PM Theresa May Under Pressure To Resign

There’s pressure on British Prime Minister Theresa May to resign, after her Conservative party lost its majority in Parliament. May had called for Thursday’s snap election, hoping to add to the party’s majority. (AP)

Prime Minister Theresa May’s gamble to strengthen her power by calling an early election failed spectacularly on Friday as her Conservative Party lost its majority in Parliament in a chaotic and confusing result that puts pressure on her to resign and complicates exit talks with the European Union.

The outcome of the vote resulted in a so-called hung Parliament, in which neither May’s party nor the main opposition Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn received enough support to form a government without help from smaller parties.

Still, the Conservatives remain the biggest party and May will travel to Buckingham Palace later Friday to seek permission to form a new government, despite losing her majority in the House of Commons. To get over the line, the BBC reported she could strike a deal with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party.

Britain’s Parliament has 650 seats and 326 are needed to produce an overall winner. The Conservatives won 319 seats, Labour 261, the Scottish National Party 35 and the Liberal Democrats 12. The DUP has 10 seats in Britain’s Parliament at Westminster.