Update: Nigel Farage Steps Down Following Brexit Vote

Update July 4, 11:30 a.m.: Nigel Farage, the leader of the U.K.'s Independence Party who is often credited with initiating the Brexit referendum, announced on Monday that he was stepping down, according to The New York Times. “My aim of being in politics was to get Britain out of the European Union,” he said. The vote for a new prime minister starts on Tuesday, according to The Times. Here is a primer of the front-runner, Home Secretary Theresa May.

Update June 26, 2:15 p.m.: Over 3.2 million people have now signed a petition on Parliament's website calling for a second referendum on Brexit, according to BBC reports. But that petition is now under investigation for fraud. According to the BBC, the House of Commons petitions committee is investigating whether some names on the petition calling for a second E.U. referendum could be fraudulent. The committee tweeted that 77,000 fraudulent signatures have already been removed.

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Britain and the European Union to "work through this in a sensible, thoughtful way" for the sake of the global markets. "The most important thing is that all of us, as leaders, work together to provide as much continuity, as much stability, as much certainty as possible," Kerry said as he met in Rome with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni. Kerry was previously scheduled to be in Rome to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but added stops in Brussels and London after the outcome of the Brexit vote, reports Reuters. While he offered no solution, he added, "There is a continuing criticality to this relationship, and one of the things that I want to emphasize in coming here today to Europe is how important the relationship of Europe, the E.U., is to the United States and to the world."

Update: June 25, 2016, 12:50 p.m.: Over a million people have signed a petition on the U.K.’s parliamentary website calling for a second referendum on Brexit, the BBC reported. The United Kingdom voted 52% to 48% to leave the European Union on Thursday evening. A House of Commons spokeswoman told the BBC that signatures on the petition, which was created on May 24, have spiked since the result. Though some European Union officials have pushed for a speedy withdrawal, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday that she believed there was no need for Britain to rush through the process. Merkel spoke in favor of creating an “objective, good” environment for talks about the exit, saying that the E.U. has “no need to be particularly nasty” about Britain’s choice to leave. Any petition with more than 100,000 signatures will be considered for a debated by Parliament. Prime Minister David Cameron, who announced his resignation after the vote, has said there would be no second referendum.

Update: June 24, 2016, 5:30 p.m.:David Cameron has resigned as Prime Minister. In a statement outside of 10 Downing Street this morning, he told the press that he is "very proud of what he has done as Prime Minister," but that the public "have chosen another path." According to the Guardian, he added that he will do what he can to "steady the ship" and that he believes, "Britain can find a way outside of the EU." Turnout was the highest for a national ballot since 1992, reports The Telegraph, with 72.2% of the electorate heading to the ballot box. Of those that voted, it was the youngest age bracket – aka those that will have to live with today's decision the longest – who most wanted to remain as part of the EU, with over 70 percent voting to stay. The over-65s, however, overwhelmingly voted for Brexit.

At approximately 6 a.m. today it became official: Britain has voted to leave the European Union. After months of campaigning, 17,410,742 million people voted to leave the EU, while 16,141,241 voted to remain. That's a 52% majority. You might be more than a little shocked to see that result, what with UKIP leader Nigel Farage and several media outlets still predicting a win, albeit tight, for the Remain camp up until midnight local time. But in the hours that followed, it became clear that Leave was gaining significant ground with the North East leading the way, and the rest of the UK – except for Scotland and London – following suit.

So, what happens now? Well, everything and nothing. The first most obvious affect of the result is on the economy, with the pound already plummeting to levels not seen since 1985, according to the Guardian. And then there's the question of whether or not David Cameron will remain Prime Minister, considering he was firmly pro-remain. While 84 Tory MPs last night wrote a letter backing the PM, Farage, arguably the loudest voice on the leave side, has made it clear that he wants a pro-Brexit politician to lead negotiations. With all 32 areas of Scotland voting remain, it's unsurprising that The Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon has already hinted at a call for another Scottish Independence referendum, while a healthy dose of Twitter users are attempting to do the same for London. Wishful thinking? Perhaps.