by Alexander O. Onukwue

The Senate Hearings on FBI Director, James Comey may have taken the majority of the attention on Thursday, but at the same time in a snap election, the UK was determining its fate.

With the projections being made by the major outlets, the big news is that Prime Minister, Theresa May, and her Conservatives have failed to retain their majority hold in the House. They are projected to have a total of 318 seats, eight short of the 326 required to form a Government in the 630-seat Parliament.

The second-largest Party, Labour, led by the 68-year old Jeremy Corbyn, is projected to occupy 262 seats, an increase of 30 seats from the 2015 elections. It represents a remarkable reward for Mr Corbyn who had not been fancied much going into the elections, having come close to being removed as the leader of his party not very long ago and being behind Mrs May by as much as a 20-points in opinion polls.

Mr Corbyn’s base in the youth significantly gave his campaign colour, with the “For Many, not the Few” campaign byline wooing young people who have doubts about being catered for in the “No Deal than Bad Deal” negotiations which Mrs May promises in her negotiations for Brexit.

Of course, it has not been about the two parties alone and this bears more significance with the inability of the Big Two to own a majority.

Fierce anti-brexiteers, Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Liberal Democrats, have a combined projected total of 48 seats, the Lib Dems especially improving from 5 seats to 13 from the 2015 Elections.

7 seats were also won by the Sinn Fein Party of Northern Ireland, though they are expected to keep to their tradition of not occupying them.

Editor