Britain's Conservative Party will be the largest party but may not have a majority after the UK's snap general election, an exit poll says.
Ballot papers are sorted at the counting centre at Alexandra Palace in London Photo: AFP
The survey taken at polling stations across the UK - and released after voting ended at 9am (NZT) - suggests the Tories could get 314 MPs when all the results have been counted in Thursday's election.
Labour would get 266, the Lib Dems 14, UKIP none and the SNP 34, the NOP/Ipsos MORI poll for BBC/ITV/Sky suggests.
Follow RNZ's live coverage of the election here.
The exit poll suggested the Conservatives would be 12 short of an overall majority.
It suggested Labour would gain 34 seats, the Conservatives would lose 17 seats, the Lib Dems would gain six and the SNP lose 22 seats.
The pound fell sharply in value after the exit poll was published. The pound fell by more than two cents to $1.2717 against the dollar, before recovering slightly to $1.2742.
The Green Party would be unchanged with one seat and Plaid Cymru would still have three MPs, according to the poll.
In total, 30,450 people were interviewed as they exited from 144 polling stations across the UK.
A total of 650 Westminster MPs will be elected, with about 45.8 million people entitled to vote.
Some votes had been cast before Thursday through postal voting, which accounted for 16 percent of the total electorate at the 2015 general election, when the overall turnout was 66 percent.
Voters head to a polling station in northern England. Photo: AFP
Polls opened at 7am British time (6pm NZT) on Thursday, with counting starting once voting ended at 10pm (9am NZT).
A total of 650 Westminster MPs will be elected, with about 46.9 million people registered to vote.
That is up from the last general election, in 2015, when there were 46.4 million registered voters.
The final opinion polls of the campaign suggested the Conservatives had widened their lead over the Labour Party.
However, as many as one in five voters were still undecided this week after a seven-week campaign overshadowed by terror attacks in Manchester and London.
Overall turnout in 2015, when the Conservatives won 331 out of 650 seats, was 66.4 percent, up from 2010.
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament on election day 2017. Photo: AFP
Police have increased security at polling stations, including patrols by armed officers in some areas, following the recent terror attacks.
A handful of seats are expected to be declared by midnight (11am NZT), with the final results expected on Friday afternoon.
Unusually, no local elections are taking place at the same time, so results might come through earlier than in recent general elections.
- RNZ / BBC
