Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. British Conservatives Lose Parliamentary Majority; May's Future Uncertain by Jamie Dettmer LONDON -- Britain was thrown into political uncertainty Friday after the country's main opposition Labour Party made an extraordinary electoral comeback, denying Theresa May and the ruling Conservatives an absolute majority in the House of Commons, largely due to a youth vote. In what will rank as one of the most remarkable elections in modern British history, Prime Minister May's gamble to expand her party's parliamentary majority failed spectacularly, raising doubts whether she will be able to persevere and head a minority government in coalition with Northern Ireland's Unionist parties. With the votes in a handful of constituencies left to count, the Conservatives might be able to secure a one-seat majority in the 650-seat House of Commons, if the Unionists back them. But calls mounted from the Labour Party and the leaders of third parties -- and from some Conservatives -- for May to step down. May appeared to be ready to try to hang on. Calls for May to step down "At this time more than anything else this country needs a period of stability, and if as the indications have shown, and if this is correct, that the Conservative party has won the most seats and probably the most votes, then it will be incumbent on us to ensure that we have that period of stability and that is exactly what we will do," she told her constituency in south-east England. If May does resign, the way could be open for Labour to try to form a coalition government of its own. But it is unclear if Labour would be able to do so. May scrambled quickly to secure the backing of Northern Ireland's Unionists, Conservative officials told VOA. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was all but written off at the start of the election campaign 50 days ago, called on the prime minister to resign, saying she should "go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country." And former Conservative finance minister George Osborne, sacked from the Cabinet by May and now editor of theEvening Standard newspaper, told ITV: "Clearly if she's got a worse result than two years ago and is almost unable to form a government then I doubt she will survive in the long term as Conservative party leader." Former Conservative minister Anna Soubry said she should "consider her position" and take personal responsibility for a "dreadful" campaign and a "deeply flawed" manifesto after deciding to call a snap post-Brexit election in the hope of extending her majority. 'Brexit not the only issue Among conservatives there was clear fury at the result, a seismic political shock that could trigger a second election within months. Exit polls suggesting Britain was heading for a hung parliament prompted gasps at Conservative Party headquarters in London and senior party leaders at first argued the polls were wrong, saying they would pull off a 50 to 60-seat majority. May focused her party's election campaign on Brexit, saying she would be able to bring the strength necessary to get the best deal for Britain with the European Union as the country navigates departure from the economic bloc. At the start of the campaign it looked as if she might pull off a landslide victory, but opinion polls showed the race tightening quickly and May came under criticism for running an aloof campaign that took the voters for granted. A turning point in the campaign appeared to come when the parties unveiled their election manifestos. The Conservatives had to backtrack on plans to make the elderly pay more for residential and social care. Polls suggested the voters did not trust May when it came to managing the National Health Service. May spent more than half of the election campaign in Labour-held seats, demonstrating how confident she was of making gains from a Labour Party led by the most left wing leader in its history, a man the press sees as a throwback to the militant 1970s. Speaking in his constituency in the English Midlands, Tom Watson, deputy Labour leader, launched a savage assault on May, saying, "She said she was strong but the public saw she was weak and wobbly; she said she was a bloody difficult woman but the public saw her as a woman who was finding it all too bloody difficult." 'Brexit talks loom With 10 days to go before Brexit negotiations, it remains unclear whether Britain will have a government in place to take on the formal talks, or whether the government that starts negotiations will be the one that concludes them. If the Conservatives are unable to persevere as a minority government, then Labour, the Scottish Nationalist Party, which also suffered serious losses north of the border, and the Liberal Democrats would likely enter lengthy talks about forming a coalition themselves. Some analysts compared the political situation to 1923, when Conservative Stanley Baldwin failed to win a parliamentary majority and lost a confidence vote in the House of Commons after he sought to remain prime minister. The king then had to ask Labour to form a minority government. The election result also throws into doubt whether Britain will now seek the hard Brexit May and the right wing of her party have been advocating. There is now likely a majority across the parties in the new House of Commons for a soft Brexit, one that would see Britain remain in the Single Market and customs union and in return accept a European Union demand for freedom of movement. "What it means is we will have pressure in the House of Commons for a soft Brexit," said Jack Straw, a former Labour foreign minister. "The math and chemistry in the Commons will be pushing away from a hard Brexit," he added. Leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage complained in a tweet as the night of vote-counting and surprises unfolded that May had put Brexit in jeopardy. Some commentators argued the election could be seen as a second referendum on Brexit, a vote about a hard' or soft Brexit,' certainly when it came to the youth vote. "Time to revisit May's hard Brexit," said Scotland's deputy first minister, John Swinney, a member of the Scottish Nationalist Party. Hundreds of thousands of people aged 18 to 34 applied to register to vote before last month's closing date, including more than 450,000 on the final day. Voters aged from 18 years-old to 24 appear to have voted heavily in favor of Labour.