Exit polls from the United Kingdom's general election Thursday suggest that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party will hold onto its majority by a strong 86 seats, a gut punch to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose political future could now be in doubt.
"I'm so, so sorry guys," tweeted Labour political activist Owen Jones. "Just utterly devastating."
I’m so, so sorry guys. Just utterly devastating. Brexit just smashed us. Keeping together an electoral coalition of Remainers and Leavers as the country bitterly divided just became impossible.
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) December 12, 2019
Though the exit polling is not final, final tallies in the U.K. usually closely resemble exit poll counts.
In addition to live coverage, The Guardian has provided readers with a timeline for results. Early results will come in overnight in the U.K. and there should be a clear view of what the country is looking at as far as leadership by tomorrow morning GMT.
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Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party leader, took to social media repeatedly during the day to send pithy notes of encouragement to supporters and reminding them to vote.
Turnout, as Common Dreams reported earlier Thursday, was huge. Queues of voters waiting to cast their ballots were reported all around the U.K.
Election Day in #Brackley 100+ people in the queue, voting on first floor! Interesting pic.twitter.com/Y0CDwvwU7B
— Dave Gaster (@VisTran) December 12, 2019
Huge queues outside the polling station in Leeds. What does this mean?! Probably not much #GeneralElection2019 pic.twitter.com/VB4qFrtQ5T
— james pemble (@gfcpemble) December 12, 2019
Britons hunkered down to await official results overnight.
