UK’s Conservatives may lose seats

Exit poll shows ruling party falling short of majority

USA TODAY LONDON British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party was projected to win the most seats in the country’s general election Thursday but fall short of an outright majority, according to exit polls.

The exit polls predicted the Conservatives would win 314 of 650 parliamentary seats, while the Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, would win 266 seats. If the projection holds, May will have lost her political gamble to strengthen her party’s majority as she heads into difficult talks with the European Union about the nation’s impending withdrawal from the 28-nation political bloc.

In the last parliamentary election in 2015, then-Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party won enough seats for a working majority of 12. Britain’s referendum on EU membership in June 2016 was narrowly approved by the public, 52 percent to 48 percent, prompting Cameron — who opposed Brexit — to resign.

About 47 million people registered to vote. Final results were expected early Friday.

May, the home secretary at the time, succeeded Cameron. She called for Thursday’s election in April when polls suggested she would win a landslide victory that would give her more leverage to negotiate favorable exit terms with the EU. A narrow victory Thursday would hurt her ability to achieve that, as EU leaders have vowed to make Britain pay a steep price for leaving the alliance.

During the campaign, May vowed to build a “stronger, fairer and more prosperous Britain,” while Corbyn’s signature campaign slogan was to govern “for the many, not the few.”

A victory for May would leave Washington with a British leader prepared to work with President Donald Trump despite clear differences on how to approach climate change, NATO and other global concerns. If Corbyn wins, Trump can expect a hostile challenge to his positions.

The election was a two-horse race between the Conservatives and Labour — the Liberal Democrats party has consistently come a distant third in national polls.