British Prime Minister Theresa May's decision to call an early election in a bid to strengthen her grip on power appeared early Friday to have spectacularly backfired, with her Conservative Party at the risk of losing its parliamentary majority, according to exit poll and partial official results, writes the Washington Post.

The outcome - an astonishing turn following a campaign that began with predictions that May would win in a historic landslide - immediately raised questions about whether she could maintain her hold on Downing Street. It also threw into doubt the country's plans for leaving the European Union.

The Labour Party was forecast to win 261 seats - an unexpected gain of dozens of seats under far-left leader Jeremy Corbyn. The outcome gave him at least a chance, albeit a remote one, of becoming prime minister - something virtually no one had thought possible before Thursday's vote.