Finally, a party that lacks a majority could simply try to go it alone and govern as a minority government, vulnerable to being voted down at any time and trying to win the support of other parties on an ad hoc basis for every vote.
Party leader Jeremy Corbyn urged Mrs May to resign and allow him to form a minority administration, declaring: "We are ready to serve this country".
"It was a awful campaign. the way that the campaign was being run, which was about her and what she wanted to do".
But some senior figures in Conservative Party were adamant May should stay on as prime minister, at least for the time being.
With chaos over the unexpected result, there's a strong sense of deja vu.
Duncan Smith said the Conservatives would now concentrate on minority government negotiations.
Neither party is able to form a government. The UK Prime Minister's Conservative Party lost its parliamentary majority after May's decision for a snap election backfired disastrously.
In her address to the country, May said: 'If we do not hold a general election now, their political game-playing will continue, and the negotiations with the European Union will reach their most hard stage in the run-up to the next scheduled election'. On June 8, the voters rebuked her.
Predictions of Conservative success became more modest as the party's campaign faltered following a series of missteps. The Conservatives had to backtrack on plans to make the elderly pay more for residential and social care.
Hung parliament would be a blow to Brexit negotiations
He went on: "We face some appalling difficulties in my opinion, this is a critical stage for us - politics is changing". Which will be about whether they want a hard or a soft Brexit."Mr Brok, 71, added: "It's a bad result for the UK".
The opposition Labour Party meanwhile has had a field day, gaining 31 seats as of 0700 GMT (3pm Singapore time) and almost wiping out the Tories in London.
"The responsibility is on Theresa May now to stand down and for the Conservative Party to go away and sort itself out and let a Labour government take place".
May spent the campaign denouncing Corbyn as the weak leader of a spendthrift party that would crash Britain's economy and flounder in Brexit talks, while she would provide "strong and stable leadership" to clinch a good deal for Britain. It's been a tumultuous 12 months since the country voted to leave the European Union in the Brexit referendum previous year, against projections.
With 647 of 650 seats declared, the Conservatives had won 316 seats.
"At this time more than anything else, this country needs a period of stability", May told reporters upon winning her own seat. The currency has been highly volatile in the last year, from $1.50 a year ago before the Brexit vote to below $1.18 briefly in October.
Much will depend on the wishes of the Democratic Unionist Party MPs from Northern Ireland, who would be her most likely allies.
He said: "I'm hoping the situation will be clarified within days, otherwise we are in an impossible position with the negotiations on Brexit coming". Some commentators argued the election could be seen as a second referendum on Brexit, a vote about a "hard" or 'soft Brexit, ' certainly when it came to the youth vote.
"That surely is a very important message that the people in this country, in every part of this country, have given us all today". In 2015, 43 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 voted and in the European Union referendum, only 64 per cent of young people exercised their right.
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