Great Britain's general election ended in a hung Parliament on Friday, but Prime Minister Theresa May said she plans to stay on as prime minister and will receive support from Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party to form a government, CNN reported.
After meeting with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, May said Friday the new government will guide Britain’s exit talks from the European Union, which will begin in 10 days.
May's Conservative Party failed to achieve a majority in Thursday's election, the BBC reported.
British voters dealt May a devastating blow, denying her the stronger mandate she had sought to conduct Brexit talks, Reuters reported. A Labour victory in Southampton made a Conservative majority now mathematically impossible, CNN reported. After the results of 633 seats were declared, Conservatives had won 308 of them and therefore were no longer able to surpass 326 — the number needed to claim a majority in the Great Britain's 650-seat Parliament.
May said after the results were posted that she would not resign, although her Labour rival, Jeremy Corbyn, said she should step down, Reuters reported.
"At this time, more than anything else this country needs a period of stability," May said after winning her own parliamentary seat of Maidenhead, near London.
"If ... the Conservative Party has won the most seats and probably the most votes then it will be incumbent on us to ensure that we have that period of stability and that is exactly what we will do,” May said.
The victory was a technical one for May and her party, but also was a major personal setback for the prime minister. At least one Conservative member of Parliament will lose a seat in an election campaign that did not have to happen for three years, CNN reported.
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