The Conservative Party led by Theresa May has won the most seats in the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament, but has lost its majority. The results of the UK elections are as follows: the Conservative Party has won 318 seats with 42.4 per cent of votes against 262 seats of the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn, which captured 40 per cent of votes with a voter turnout of 68.7 per cent (2.6 per cent more than the previous elections in 2015).

The result then, is that of a hung parliament, that is a parliament without a majority. Given that the Conservatives haven’t obtained an absolute majority of 326 seats out of 650 and have lost 12, the incumbent Prime Minister Theresa May will try and form a coalition government with the Democratic Unionist Party of Ireland, which obtained 10 seats. In the meantime Corbyn is calling for May’s resignation, strengthened by the electoral results which are set to see his party gain almost 30 seats.

Read more: UK elections 2017, live coverage and results

Candidate Bobby Smith, activist for fathers' rights, of the Give Me Back Elmo Party at a polling station in Maidenhead, England, where the Conservative candidate Theresa May cast her vote © Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Toby the Beagle outside the Glen Road polling station in Belfast, Northen Ireland © Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Michelle O'Neill, Northern Irish party Sinn Féin candidate, at a polling station in Coalisland, Northern Ireland © Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Theresa May, the Conservative Party candidate, with her husband Philip May at the polling station in Sonning Guide & Scout Hut in the Maidenhead constituency, England © Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Voters leave the polling station in Bonneville Primary School in London's Streatham constituency, England © Silvana Lauria

Chanel the Staffordshire Bull Terrier outside a polling station in the Tulse Hill Methodist Church in London, England © Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Guia the Labrador outside a polling station in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, England © Anthony Devlin/Getty Images

Polling station in Jessop Primary School in London's Dulwich and West Norwood constituency, England © Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn, Labour Party candidate, a the polling station in the Pakeman Primary School in London's Islington North constituency, England © Leon Neal/Getty Images

Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish National Party candidate, with her husband Peter Murrel at the polling station in Broomhouse Community Hall in Glasgow, Scotland © Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Dougie the Cocker Spaniel outside a polling station in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, England © Anthony Devlin/Getty Images

Polling station in Bonneville Primary School in London's Streatham constituency, England © Silvana Lauria

Vote counting Glasgow, Scotland © Mark Runnacles/Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn at Labour Headquarters, galvanised by the positive result of his party © Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish national party candidate, lost a number of seat © Mark Runnacles/Getty Images

Tim Farron wins the seat for Westmoorland and Lonsdale constituency, beating the other candidates including Independent Mr. Fishfinger (centre, left) © Dave Thompson/Getty Images

Who is Theresa May

Theresa May became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on the 13th of July 2016 following the resignation of former Conservative leader David Cameron, who came to power in 2010 and left the post after losing the battle to remain in Europe at the referendum held on the 23rd of June, the one to ratify Brexit.

Born in Eastbourne, on the southeast coast of England in 1956, the daughter of a Church of England vicar, May attended Oxford University and graduated in Geography in 1977. There she met husband Philip May, who she’s been married to since 1980. Before politics her career was in banking. She worked at the Bank of England shortly after graduating until 1983, then in the payments industry. She entered Parliament in 1997 as Conservative Party member for Maidenhead, a town west of London. In her over twenty years in the House of Commons she has taken on many different roles, including being Minister for Women & Equalities from 2010 to 2012. She was the longest-serving Home Secretary, a role she occupied from 2010 to 2016, in half a century. She is the most powerful female Conservative since Margaret Thatcher.

Read more: UK elections 2017. Why Theresa May decided to go to the polls before Brexit