British Election Exit Poll Predicts Win For Conservative Party

The Conservative Party appeared set to win Britain’s general election late Thursday, according to the results of the country’s main exit poll.

If correct, a newly empowered Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be able to claim a mandate to “get Brexit done” on his terms, likely killing off any chance of a second referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union.

His Conservatives scored 368 seats, with Labour netting just 191, giving the Conservatives an unexpectedly large majority of 86 seats, if the poll is accurate. It predicted that the Scottish National Party will win 55 seats, the centrist Liberal Democrats will win 13, and smaller parties will pick up a handful of others.

Brexit was central to the campaign run by Johnson, who is pushing to leave the European Union by the end of January and called the election in hopes of shoring up support for his plan. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, favors holding a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.

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