UK Conservatives seen largest party but no majority

GEO 436 LONDON: Britain’’s opposition Conservatives look on course to be the largest party in parliament after the closest election in three decades, but without a clear majority, leaving it uncertain who will eventually run the country. With over half of results reported, Conservative leader David Cameron said on Friday it was clear the ruling Labour party “had lost its mandate to govern”. The prospect of the first inconclusive election since 1974 and uncertainty about who would form the next government is likely to trouble already febrile financial markets. An exit poll, which surveyed around 20,000 people out of around 45 million Britons eligible to vote on Thursday, suggested the centre-right Conservatives were likely to win 305seats and Labour 255 seats in the lower House of Commons, both short of the 326 needed for a majority. It put the Liberal Democrats, who had been expected to perform strongly, on 61 seats surprisingly down two on their current number in parliament.

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1. Exit poll shows no party winning majority
2. UK polls: Tories take the lead
3. Exit polls: Conservatives fall short of majority (AP)