2010 UK General Election; "And The Winner Is..."

Errmmm........................... No-one, really. Oh dear.

The results of the 2010 UK General Election are in, and no clear winner has emerged. For a political party to have been declared victorious and acquire governmental power, it had to win the majority of parliamentary seats that were up for contention. In this election 326 was the target number of seats needed to win. The Conservative party won the most seats of all parties; followed by Labour and then the Liberal Democrats. However, the Tories fell short of getting the magical 326 seats to rule Britannia:

• Conservatives ------------------------------306 seats (36.1% of all votes)

• Labour ---------------------------------------258 (29.0%)

• Liberal Democrats ------------------------57 (23.0%)

• Democratic Unionist Party -------------8 (0.6%)

• Scottish National Party ------------------6 (1.7%)

• Sinn Fein ------------------------------------5 (0.6%)

• Plaid Cymru --------------------------------3 (0.6%)

• Social Democratic & Labour Party ---3 (0.4%)

• Green Party ---------------------------------1 (1.0%)

• Alliance Party ------------------------------1 (0.1%)

• Others ----------------------------------------1 (6.9%)

(As the above data shows, the Tories didn't win the majority share of seats needed to get into power; let alone get the majority share of votes cast i.e. 50%+1 vote. For more info about the unfair voting system used in the UK General Election please read the earlier AYTD post "Paradiiiiiiiiiigm Baaaarrrr...".)

Because no party got the majority of parliamentary seats the UK is now in a phase known as a Hung Parliament. This means that there is a brief period (25 May) of time for the parties to negotiate with each other in order to work together and form a coalition government. In the meantime Gordon Brown is a caretaker Prime Minister of sorts, and remains in place at 10 Downing Street. If a partnership of parties is made then they must ask for approval from the Queen to go ahead and govern over the land. As things stand the most likely coalition to be established will be led by the Conservatives and co-operate with the Lib Dems.

Will a coalition government be formed before 25 May (when the Queen's Speech is due to set out the government's priorities during the Parliament) or could a new election be on the cards? Only time will tell...

Do you know the electoral results of your local constituency seat? Find out via the BBC's coverage of the Election.