Britain's Conservatives won a final poll race left over from the May 6 ballots, results showed today, triumphing over their power-sharing partners the Liberal Democrats.
However, the Lib Dems were celebrating even after coming in second, ahead of the third-placed Labour party, which received much weaker support than expected in yesterday's vote.
The result in the northern English constituency of Thirsk and Malton amounted to a show of support for the new coalition, led by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.
Conservative candidate Anne McIntosh, who had been widely expected to triumph, won the seat with a large majority, taking the party's number of seats in the House of Commons to 307. Lib Dem Howard Keal came second and Labour candidate, Jonathan Roberts, was pushed into third place, in a vote that completed the 650-member House of Commons.
Labour was ousted from power in the May 6 general elections after 13 years of running the country. Cameron and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg (now deputy PM) have struck a close bond in national power. They formed Britain's first coalition government since World War II when the Tories won most of the seats, but failed to win an outright majority in the general elections.
However, their parties' candidates fought a no-holds-barred campaign in Thirsk, which had earlier been delayed owing to the death of a candidate. Keal accused his Conservative rival of being "completely outrageous" by telling voters that he advocated Britain joining the eurozone, a controversial Lib Dem pledge dropped in the coalition deal.
{{/usCountry}}However, their parties' candidates fought a no-holds-barred campaign in Thirsk, which had earlier been delayed owing to the death of a candidate. Keal accused his Conservative rival of being "completely outrageous" by telling voters that he advocated Britain joining the eurozone, a controversial Lib Dem pledge dropped in the coalition deal.
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