Kyle Bell

For the first time since 1974, the British people have elected a hung parliament in which no party has won a majority of seats. With 326 seats needed to form a majority government, the Conservative Party has failed to reach the mark that just weeks ago seemed inevitable. Overall, the Conservatives saw a 5 percent swing in their direction from the last national election in 2005.

The Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, is in talks with the ideologically dissimilar Liberal Democrats to form a government. Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, is seeking electoral reform in the country that would base a party’s seats in parliament on their percentage of the vote – a system similar to most other European countries. Despite achieving 23 percent of the vote, the Liberal Democrats only managed 57 seats, a decline of 5 seats from 2005. It’s obvious why they would want reform.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the Labour Party has vowed to fight on, despite losing a resounding 91 seats in the 650 seat chamber. If Cameron does not bow to the demands of the Liberal Democrats, it is hard to see what bargaining chip he has, as the Lib Dems could just as easily turn to the Labour Party, which has said they would consider such electoral reform. In fact, Brown released a statement saying he supports it.

The best source to keep updated on the British elections is without a doubt the BBC. They have a number of cool tools where you can examine race-by-race, as well as a proportional map that shows a better representation of how the country voted.