Johnson poised for victory in early polls

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party appeared to have achieved a solid parliamentary majority in Thursday’s election, according to initial exit polls, a result that likely sets the country on track to exit the European Union early next year.

With all 650 seats in Parliament up for grabs in the momentous vote, Johnson’s party garnered about 368 parliamentary seats, according to exit polls reported by the British Broadcasting Corp. and the country’s other main broadcast outlets.

Johnson’s electioneering slogan — “Get Brexit Done” — carried blunt-force appeal in a country wearied by more than three years of paralyzing infighting over when, whether and how to leave the 28-nation EU.

According to the projections, the main opposition Labor Party lags far behind with 191 seats. Totals for smaller anti-Brexit parties were predicted in the double digits: 55 seats for the

Scottish National Party and 13 for the Liberal Democrats.

A senior Labor leader, John McDonnell, called the projections “extremely disappointing.” He didn’t say whether Jeremy Corbyn, the 70-year-old party leader, would step down if the vote tally bears out the exit polls, but said “appropriate decisions” would be made.

If the projections prove correct, they would represent a gain of more than four dozen seats for the Conservatives over the last general election, in 2017. But exit polls have sometimes been problematic in the past, and official results were not expected until early Friday.

Kirsty Wigglesworth / Associated Press Britain’s Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson leaves with his dog Dilyn after voting in the general election. Exit polls show his party leading.