UK Election Exit Poll: Cameron's Conservatives Close to Majority

2015-05-08 05:50:22 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Zhang

Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader David Cameron and his wife Samantha arrive to vote at a polling station in Spelsbury, England, as they vote in the general election on May 7, 2015. [Photo: CFP]

Exit polling is suggesting UK Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives appear poised to maintain their hold as the largest party in Parliament.

However, much like the last election, the Conservatives appear to be coming up just short of a majority.

Surveys of voters suggest the Tories are going to end up with 316 members of parliament.

Ed Miliband's opposition Labor Party is poised to fill 239 seats in the House of Commons.

The same polling also shows the Scottish National Party will secure 58 seats, while the centrist Liberal Democrats will secure 10 seats in the 650-seat parliament.

Provided the numbers play out the way the polling suggests, a combined total of 326 seats for Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, who have governed in coalition since 2010, should just be enough to allow David Cameron to maintain his residence at 10 Downing Street.

Professor Tim Besley with the London School of Economics and Political Science says this is suggesting a vote for "no change."

"If the exit poll proves to be accurate, it means we are in for a period of stability in a way, because effectively it's telling us David Cameron will be Prime Minister. He may or may not to draw on the support of the Liberal Democrats, but essentially it's almost a vote for no change."

Besley also says the polling suggests the Tories may be in a position to form a government alone, without a coalition partner.

"That's a very interesting questing whether that would happen. I think if the poll again, is accurate, 316 seats may be enough for the Conservatives to think they can form a government without the Lib Dems. You know, there've been a number of very high-profile Lib Dem ministers who are very respective, I think have been stable, as business secretary, as being a prime example. Will it be in the interest of the Conservatives to bring those ministers back? Or will they say, no we can manage alone? I think it's a very, very interesting judgment for the Conservative Party to decide whether or not they do wish to work alone or with the Lib Dems."

The counting in the UK is currently underway.

The results should be expected later on this Friday.