Conservative Party secures a landslide win in UK election

Britain’s ruling Conservative Party won a sweeping victory in the 2019 general election held on Thursday, winning 326 seats, 40 more than the half of the 650 House of Commons seats. It is the biggest victory for the Tories since the party lead by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher won 376 of the 650 seats in Parliament in 1987, BBC reported. As Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised, Brexit from the EU will likely to happen on Jan. 31, 2020.

Exit polls announced immediately after the election at 10 p.m. showed that Conservatives had 368 seats, 42 seats more than the majority of seats. British voters, who have become tired of the Labour Party’s ambiguous stance on Brexit, appeared to have cast their votes to the Conservatives. The main opposition Labour Party is forecast to have 191 seats, almost 50 seats fewer than it held before the election, while the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats are expected to have 55 and 13, respectively.

The Conservatives said it will have a parliamentary vote on Brexit before Christmas. After the first exit poll was released, Prime Minister Johnson said that he has been given “a powerful new mandate to get Brexit done.” Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested that he will quit the job after the party had its worst election defeat in 84 years since it had 154 seats in the 1935 election.


Youn-Jong Kim zozo@donga.com