May 07, 2010

Yesterday Britain held elections and no party won an outright majority, resulting in a hung Parliament (I need to make t-shirts that say "Britain: The only thing hung in this country is Parliament." Oh snap!). The Conservatives gained a lot of seats (about 94), while the incumbent Labour Party (led by current-Prime Minister Gordon Brown) lost seats (at least 88). The third place Liberal Democrats didn't gain as many seats as was forecasted, and they were down by five seats compared to the 2005 vote. With nearly all the votes counted, the Conservative Party (led by David Cameron) is set to win the largest number of seats. This will end the 13 year reign of the Labour Party holding the majority.The Conservatives won an estimated 36.2% of the votes, while the Labour won 29.1% and the Liberal Democrats won 22.9%. A BBC projection forecasts that the Conservatives will get 306 seats, Labour 261, and the Liberal Democrats 54 (the Liberal Democrats are a much smaller party compared to the Conservatives and Labour).

Over the next several days, the Conservative Party and the Labour Party (the two biggest parties) will try to woo other parties to join them in order to form a governing alliance (in order to get a majority). Both parties are trying to strike a deal with the Liberal Democrats (headed by Nick Clegg), who hold the third highest number of seats. Gordon Brown said that although his party is currently behind, they are not giving up. He offered an alliance with Clegg based on their parties' shared approach to the country's economic crisis and to reforms in the voting system (a central tenet of the Liberal Democrat Party). David Cameron offered the Liberal Democrats some concessions, but not guarantees, on economic measures and electoral reform. Cameron also said that while the two parties disagreed on immigration, the relationship with Europe, and defense, he hoped they could come to an agreement (well, when you put it like that...). Clegg has not made a decision yet.

Under British parliamentary procedures, the party with a plurality of the votes (in this case, the Conservative Party), may form a minority government. This would not require them to form an alliance (but then it's more difficult to get things passed in Parliament because you don't have a majority voting bloc). But the rules also permit the incumbent prime minister (in this case, Gordon Brown) to remain in office and try to negotiate an alliance. Any new government has to be able to withstand an early confidence vote in Parliament (a vote that signifies enough people in Parliament accept or "have confidence" in your government). (Full Story)