国际英语资讯:Britains May on course to lose majority in British parliament: exit poll_时事

国际英语资讯:Britains May on course to lose majority in British parliament: exit poll

The 2017 exit poll predicted nine seats for the Lib Dems, and in the event they ended up with eight, losing around 50 MPs.

Counting of millions of votes started soon after ballot boxes were delivered to counting stations, with the first declarations likely before midnight.

The vast majority of results will be declared between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. local time, with May and her main rival, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, eagerly waiting to see which party, if any, crosses the 326-seat threshold. That is the number of seats needed to guarantee a majority in the 650-seat House of Commons.

Labour's Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, said late Thursday night May should consider her position if the exit poll proves accurate.

Speaking on Sky news, Thornberry said: "I think she should go. I think we're (Labour) on the verge of a great result." Labour's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell also said he thought May's position would be untenable on the result of the exit poll.

May's expected losses come after the 100-plus wins predicted early on in the campaign.

In the run-up to the general election May had insisted that there would be no general election until the parliamentary term ended its five-year span in 2020.

She changed her mind, saying she wanted more support in her negotiations over the terms for Britain leaving the European Union.

Brexit, though, has not dominated the election campaign which was overshadowed by Britain's worst terrorist strike since 2005, with the detonating of a bomb by a suicide bomber at the end of a concert by singer Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena.