Prime Minister David Cameron says he will form a majority Conservative government after securing a majority in Britain's general election.
Cameron signaled a conciliatory tone after securing a majority, congratulating a former coalition partner, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, and opposition leader Ed Miliband. He promised to govern as the party of "One nation, One United Kingdom."
Cameron won an absolute majority, taking 326 of the possible 650 seats up for grabs in the House of Commons.
The stunning result comes after polls predicted for weeks that the race between the Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party would be a dead heat.
Meanwhile, Britain's pollsters offered confident predictions of a hung Parliament throughout the election campaign. Friday's results proved them consistently wrong.
The surprise victory for Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party left pollsters scrambling to explain their worst performance in a British election since 1992, when the Conservatives also defied forecasts and won a narrow parliamentary majority.
Pollsters say their month of surveys portraying the Conservatives and opposition Labour Party in a tight race failed, in part, to take proper account of the potential for lower turnout among people identifying themselves as likely Labour Party voters.
Analysis of the campaign's final polls also may document last-minute switches by wavering voters to Cameron's party because of its reputation for stronger economic management, a factor in 1992's polling failures. (AP)
