The UK is waking up to an election result that not many people expected – including Theresa May, who called a snap election to increase her majority and now looks like she’ll be left with no majority at all.

To win an election outright, a party must in theory secure 326 of 650 seats in the House of Commons, gaining a (very slim) majority and earning the right to form the next government.

As it stands, while the Conservatives are predicted to come very close to this total, with a forecasted 316 seats, they will not exceed it. Labour’s performance is set to strongly outperform expectations but will leave the party well short of the 326 total, with a predicted 265 seats.

So, if no one has a majority, what happens now?

For now, Theresa May is still prime minister.

As the incumbent prime minister, Theresa May is entitled to stay in Number 10 until it’s clear she has no prospect of forming a working government and someone else does. This also means – on paper at least – that she has the first right to attempt to form a government by persuading other parties to either enter coalition with her or back her up on key votes.

However, there is nothing stopping other parties conducting talks at the same time to see if they can come to some sort of rival arrangement. If it became clear one of these could create a majority, May would be obliged to resign and let someone else enter Number 10.

In practice, civil servants in the Cabinet Office will work frenetically behind the scenes seeing what deals different parties will or won’t do, and will offer to host talks and discussions for any parties that want to carry them out.

How long do parties have to work out a deal?

Theresa May has the right to force a party that says it can form a government to prove it before she has to resign, though may not opt to do this in practice. This would be done by the party offering a vote in the House of Commons saying MPs had confidence in that government. The earliest this could happen would be Tuesday 13 June. If Jeremy Corbyn were to hold this vote and win, Theresa May would step down and Corbyn would enter 10 Downing Street.

more:   https://www.buzzfeed.com/jamesball/it-looks-like-no-one-has-won-the-general-election-wtf?utm_term=.cpybKNxqW#.ixWgG5Kp2