Hung parliament looms in UK
Britain's opposition Conservatives won 306 seats to become the biggest party in parliament, but face power-sharing talks after falling short of an overall majority, final vote results showed yesterday.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour party won 258 seats and the Liberal Democrats 57 in the 650-member House of Commons, after the last result from all constituencies contested in elections on Thursday was announced.
Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionists won eight; the Scottish National Party six; Sinn Fein five; the Welsh Plaid Cymru three; Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) three in Northern Ireland, with one each for Greens and the Alliance Party, the latter in Belfast.
One seat has yet to be decided: an election will be held for the constituency of Thirsk and Malton in northeast England on May 27, after one of the candidates fighting it died during the election campaign.
Conservative leader David Cameron has offered to make a deal with the Liberal Democrats to form a government, and Brown has agreed to wait for those talks, while holding out a hand to the Lib Dems in case they fail.
The result was predicted by polls but Britain has not had a hung parliament since 1974 and the next few days are highly uncertain, with some commentators already forecasting another election if no government is formed.
Conservative leader David Cameron said Labour had lost their right to power, after the Tories gained the most seats in the election.
He promised to act in "the national interest" to bring "strong, stable, decisive and good" leadership, as the UK appeared set for a hung parliament.
Gordon Brown has promised to play his part in securing "a stable, strong and principled government" after the UK election resulted in a hung parliament.
Labour won fewer seats than the Tories but nobody gained a majority
Nick Clegg said the election result was "a disappointment" for the Lib Dems, and it was for the Tories to prove they were "capable of seeking to govern".
He acknowledged many voters "decided to stick with what they knew best", despite his pre-election surge in the polls after the leaders' TV debates.
Meanwhile, the "special relationship" between the United States and Britain will not be affected by the uncertainty over the outcome of the British elections, the White House said Friday.
"We look forward to working with whoever is the prime minister," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, after a knife-edge election left Britain in political limbo.
He added that US President Barack Obama had seen the reports of the outcome of Thursday's parliamentary elections, which showed the opposition Conservatives had won 306 seats, just short of the 326 needed to govern alone.
The Conservatives were seeking a power-sharing deal with the small Liberal Democrat party, after the ruling Labour Party of Prime Minister Gordon Brown won 258 seats. The Liberal Democrats won 57 seats.
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