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British electors deliver vote of no confidence in political parties

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British voters delivered a big vote of no confidence in their political parties in Thursday's general election, with no party winning enough support to form a majority government, for the first time in nearly 40 years.

A security guard stands in front of No. 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, in the early morning of May 7, 2010. The general election in Britain resulted in a "hung parliament" as no party is going to win a clear majority, preliminary results showed Friday. [Xinhua photo]

The result is a hung parliament, one where no party can comfortably govern alone and needs the formal support of another party or a less formal agreement.

The Conservative party, the main opposition party for the past 13 years, won the most votes and the most seats but failed to reach the target of 326 members of parliament (MPs) needed for a majority government.

The Conservatives won 36 percent of the vote and more than 90 seats (geographic constituencies which each have one MP), its most successful election in terms of seats for 80 years.

The Labour party suffered its worst general election for nearly 30 years, but will be cheered that it retained second place in votes and seats. Throughout most of the campaign its status as one of the two main parties was under serious attack from a powerful challenge from the third party in British politics, the Liberal Democrats.

Labour lost more than 90 seats, and saw its share of the vote drop to 29 percent with a swing of just over 5 percent to the Conservatives.

The Liberal Democrats had a disappointing election night after a surge of support during the five-week campaign, losing several seats compared with the number they won at the last general election in 2005, but they increased the number of votes, taking 23 percent of the vote.

The election result leaves the Liberal Democrat party in a strong position to choose with whom it forms a coalition, if it wants to, and so choose the next government. It could also refuse to form a coalition or enter a less formal agreement.

On Friday morning Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg pegged out his position on his return to London from his north of England constituency in the city of Sheffield. Clegg was interested in having talks with the Conservatives first, before talking to the governing Labour party, because they had won the most votes and the most seats.

"It is now for the Conservative party to prove that it is capable of seeking to govern in the national interest," said Clegg.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was next to speak publicly about the hung parliament. He had flown down to London from his Scottish constituency and told waiting press in Downing Street that it was a position unknown to this generation of leaders with no party able to have a majority government.

He said that he had a constitutional duty to seek to resolve the situation for the good of the country.

Brown acknowledged Clegg's move to seek talks with the Conservatives first, and left the door open for talks between Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

"I understand and respect the position of Mr Clegg in saying he first wishes to make contact with the leader of the Conservative party," he said.

He added: "Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg should clearly be entitled to take as much time as they feel necessary. For my part I should make clear I should be pleased to see any of the party leaders."

Cameron was the final leader to outline his position publicly. He spoke to journalists on Friday afternoon in central London.

He said that his party had 2 million more votes than Labour, but added "we have to accept we fell short of an overall majority. Britain needs strong, stable, decisive government. We need that on a secure basis."

He said there was a war in Afghanistan and there was "an economic situation of great seriousness" and that it was necessary to have "a government that reassures international markets."

Cameron made a public offer to the Liberal Democrats, "I am prepared to consider alternative options. May be possible to have stronger more stable government than that. I want to make a big open offer to the Liberal Democrats.

"I want us to work together to tackle the debt crisis, social problems and the broken political system. We will now begin talks with other parties."

Cameron ruled out compromise on key issues such as defence, European Union relations, immigration and made an offer of only a committee of inquiry into electoral reform, a key Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge.

Cameron added that cuts in the deficit in public spending needed to be made now. "The biggest threat is the deficit. Starting to deal with the deficit this year is essential," he said.

As the leaders spoke the pound sank to a one-year low against the U.S. dollar and stocks in London fell. Elsewhere controversy broke out over some events on election night.

Voters were shut out of polling stations in some urban areas across England, including Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and parts of London after queues formed close to the closing time of 10 p.m. and could not be served in time.

In one constituency in East London, voters said they had queued for an hour and a half to vote, only to be told at 10 p.m. that the polling station was now closed and they could not vote.

The turnout in the election was about 65 percent, up on the 2005 figure of 61 percent.

This was surprising as the election was fought against a background of massive disillusion with politics and disgust with politicians in general. They were perceived by public opinion to have cheated and misled the people after a newspaper uncovered extensive cheating on expenses by MPs.

A total of 150 MPs saw their careers ended by the scandal when they were obliged not to run in this election. Three others face criminal charges.

Some MPs deeply embroiled in the scandal chose to stand. Labour MP and Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was one of those, and she paid the price, losing her seat to the Conservatives

The electoral system, too, is perceived as unfair by some and there were calls for reform during the campaign, with both the Liberal Democrats and Labour pledging a referendum on the issue. The first past-the-post system in use favors the two main parties, and one of the features of the campaign was the breakthrough in opinion polls by the third party, the Liberal Democrats.

Their emergence as a force equal to Labour energized the campaign and turned it into a three-horse race, but support fell away in the final few days as newly-converted Liberal Democrat supporters turned to the two main parties in search of strong government.