LONDON, Dec 13 (APP):British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won parliamentary majority with 364 seats out of 650 seats in the United Kingdom (UK) general elections held on Thursday (December 12) – a victory that will remove the uncertainty over Brexit and help him to take the UK out of the European Union (EU) by the end of next month.
Latest results released on Friday showed that the Boris-led Conservative won 364 out of 650 seats in the lower House of Commons.
Johnson, 55, said the victory would give him a mandate to “get Brexit done” and
take the UK out of the EU next month.
The 15 Pakistani origin British citizens also emerged victorious in the UK general elections.
After the emergence of results of UK general elections, most of the British Pakistanis won their electoral contests from Labour Party followed by the number of winning candidates of Pakistani origin belonging to the Conservative Party.
Jeremy Corbyn who won 203 seats in the election said he would not lead Britain’s
main opposition Labour Party at the next general election, after predictions of a
crushing defeat at nationwide polls.
“I will not lead the party in any future general election campaign,” the veteran
socialist, 70, said after winning his north London seat for the 10th time, the British
media reported.
According to the media, Corbyn went into Thursday’s election offering a radical
leftist programme for social change, including huge investment in public
services, as well as a second referendum on Brexit.
Exit polls and early results had also suggested the Tories are on course for a
historic victory in Thursday’s election, in which Johnson won his own seat in Uxbridge, west of London, with an increased majority.
The polls closed on Thursday night for the country’s first December election in nearly
a century to determine the fate of Brexit – Britain’s impending divorce from the
European Union (EU).
In the past, this key UK exit poll has almost exactly predicted the final results, but sometimes it has also got it wrong by predicting a hung Parliament in 1992 and 2015 when the Conservatives went on to win majorities.
Earlier, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn
were among the first to cast their ballots in London in an election that offers the electorate a stark choice between the Conservatives’ pledge to leave the EU on a signed withdrawal agreement and Labour’s commitment to offer another referendum on the country’s future relationship with the 28-member economic bloc.
According to British media, polling stations across all constituencies of the UK – England, Wales,Scotland and Northern Ireland – had opened at 07:00 GMT where a total of 3,322 candidates are standing for election to 650 seats in the House of Commons.
The snap election had been called by Johnson in a bid to win a majority for his
Conservative Party and get his Brexit deal through Parliament.
The UK is due to leave the EU but has failed to find parliamentary consensus
on the terms of that exit, missing repeated deadlines – the last one being on October
31.
While Johnson has been keen to characterise this as a Brexit election with the party’s “Get Brexit Done” message with the new January 31, 2020 deadline in sight, the Opposition Labour Party and others have been focussed on highlighting his Tory
government’s failures across domestic issues such as the state-funded National
Health Service (NHS).
Johnson, 55, cast his vote at a central London polling station. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon, Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley and Wales” Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price all cast their votes.
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said he has already cast his ballot by postal vote.
The counting begins straight away, with Newcastle Central and Sunderland South
and Houghton in the north east of England holding the crown for the fastest to
declare.
Despite a dreary, cold and wet weather, long queues were reported outside
many polling stations, as initial turnout appeared to be brisk after a closely fought
campaign billed by the Conservatives and the Labour as the “most important in a
generation”.
Anyone aged 18 or over was eligible to vote, as long as they are a British
citizen or qualifying citizen of the Commonwealth or Republic of Ireland and
have registered to vote.
