British Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party
looks set to continue in power after it defied expectations and won the 323
seats needed to command a parliamentary majority.
The results confirmed a shock exit poll projection published
by British broadcasters late on Thursday night that put the party way ahead of
the opposition Labour Party with 316 seats. Updated projections put the
Conservatives on 329, an absolute majority.
The poll also predicted Labour winning 239 seats, the
Scottish National Party (SNP) winning 58 and the Liberal Democrats winning 10.
Labour’s tally was further revised down to 233 as the vote counts came in.
The party’s leader, Ed Miliband, is expected to resign his
position, sources within the party told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.
Nick Clegg, who was deputy prime minister under the outgoing
coalition government, announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal
Democrats after his party’s “catastrophic” defeat.
Clegg called the loss of more than 40 of the party’s seats
“the most crushing blow to the Liberal Democrats” since it was founded.
Speaking after successfully defending his seat in Witney,
Cameron said his Conservative party’s policies in the last government had been
vindicated by the result.
“This has been a very strong night for the Conservative
Party,” the prime minister said
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