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Friday, May 6, 2005 (London):
Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party has won an absolute
majority of parliamentary seats in Britain's general
election.
The party has crossed the 324-seat mark in the 645-member
House of Commons.
The result means Blair has won a historic third consecutive
term in office for his party.
A joint BBC/ITN exit poll had predicted a victory for the
Labour Party with an overall majority of 66. Labour won the
2001 election with a 165 majority.
The findings, based on 19,800 voters at 120 polling stations
across UK, were announced as polls closed in the 2005 general
election.
Blair wins seat
Sunderland South was the first seat to declare, with Labour's
Chris Mullin winning despite a five per cent swing to the
Tories. Prime Minister Tony Blair won from Sedgefield with
24,000 votes.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, expressed doubts at the
predicted 66-seat majority.
"I haven't got that impression, but it's too early to tell,
too difficult to call. I want to see a Labour government and
there's going to be one, there's no doubt about that," he
said.
The exit poll may also provoke soul searching among Tories,
whose predicted 209 seats would give them the same number of
MPs Labour won in 1983 under Michael Foot and the "longest
suicide note in history" manifesto.
The Liberal Democrats are in third place with 21 per cent of
the vote, according to the exit polls.
The figure represents an improvement on their 18.3 per cent
share of the vote in 2001, but falls below party expectations
of a breakthrough. (With PTI inputs)
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