FOR many people last week's election results came as quite the surprise.

With polls predicting a landslide victory for Theresa May, as the votes were tallied up throughout the night on Thursday, this supposedly sure-fire win for the Conservatives did not turn out quite as many had anticipated.

With surprise political decisions being par for the course these days, the UK woke up to the news that we had a Hung Parliament, suggesting the public were not quite as confident in May's 'out of sight out of mind campaign' as her party would have us believe.

Whatever your political leanings, there's no denying the success of opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn's campaign.

Having faced the wrath of a largely right-wing media, many were hell bent on tarnishing his reputation and credibility as a leader.

Earlier this year, popular columnist and political activist Owen Jones, described the UK press as "largely run by a very small group of very right-wing media moguls who defend the status quo of which they are part. If you are on the Left and want to change society, the media will always come and get you”.

This was certainly true of Corbyn, who since becoming the leader of the Labour party has faced more headlines about his divided party and alleged IRA affiliations than any mention of his policies.

Up against the 'strong and stable' May, ahead of the decision to call a snap election many did not know much about the man behind the smears.

But thanks to a campaign that pledged to help 95 per cent of the population by raising taxes from the richest five per cent; engaging young people, and having a voting track record that shows he practises what he preaches, the public's perception of the Labour leader took a drastic U-turn.

His focus on the younger generation appears to have had a wide spread effect. In the post-election reports, it was found that as many as 72 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds turned out to vote in the General Election.

As the age bracket generally associated with having poor voter turnout figures, their involvement in the election says something about Corbyn's popularity.

Whilst many of us find politicians hard to trust and find it even harder to navigate through the murky territory of what is fact, what is the work of a good spin doctor and what party promises will be kept, one thing remains true. The more of us, from all age groups, that head out and vote, the more political parties must factor us into their policies.

Whilst this election surprised many of us - some will be disappointed with the result, others pleased and the rest confused about how the government proceeds forward - this election has shown that we need more from our politicians. We need passion, conviction, and we need them to turn up.