The Philippine Online Chronicles

In the normal British Parliamentary politics, General Election is held at least five years after the last one. This is not fixed though because not all Parliaments run for the whole five year period.

Before General Election is called, the Parliament will be dissolved first making every seat in the House of Commons vacant.

In total, the United Kingdom has 650 parliamentary constituencies. Each constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons. Approximately, each constituency has an average number of 68,175 voters. The constituency breakdown is as follows: 18 in Northern Ireland, 40 in Wales, 59 in Scotland and 533 in England.

The simple majority system is the method used to select the MP for each constituency.

After the General Election, in the present set-up, 326 over 650 vacant seats in the House of Commons should be occupied by one political party to get the absolute majority. Once this happens, the winning political party will already take charge in forming the government with its leader usually holding the Prime Minister position.

UK 2010 General Elections

The May 6, 2010 UK General Elections did not deliver an absolute majority thus a "Hung Parliament." The Conservatives got the most votes but it is not enough to have a clear majority. The results of the elections are: 306 votes for the Conservatives, 258 for Labour, 57 for Liberal Democrats, 29 for all others and there's one (1) undeclared.

Since the Conservatives (known as the Tory/ies) are not allowed to form the government right away because of a lack of an absolute majority, the party entered into negotiations with the Liberal Democrats (LibDems), in the hope of forming a coalition government.

The Labour party did the same thing, negotiating with the LibDems as well, for a possible power sharing. The difference of this negotiation however is that even if both parties join forces, their numbers will still fall short of the absolute majority needed to form a new government.

In case both negotiations reach a deadlock, it is possible that General Elections may be called once again in the coming months although Nick Clegg of the LibDems said that this is premature.

While this frantic period of negotiation is happening, Gordon Brown, being the Prime Minister, has the duty to maintain order by calling for a temporary government, to wait until an agreement between parties is achieved and to ensure that this coalition of parties has command over the entire parliament.
Professor Robert Hazell from the Institute of Government explains, "We must always have a government, and until a new government can be formed the present government carries on."

As of this writing, Gordon Brown has already resigned as Prime Minister ending the 13 years New Labour rule in Britain. Soon, David Cameron, the leader of the Tory party will be appointed as the new Prime Minister by the Queen.

The LibDems is set to make a governing pact with the Tories though it is not a full-blown coalition as reports say.

The Hung Parliament

A "Hung Parliament" happens when none from the political parties won the absolute majority.

In cases like this, a minority government can be formed through talks and negotiations between the different political parties. If two-party minority government is not workable, a coalition government of more than two parties may be possible. However, passing legislation may be difficult because parties have differing views on some crucial issues (i.e. education, taxes, voting reform, etc.). For a coalition government to succeed, they have to work out for common grounds on these critical issues.

There is no deadline in the formation of the new government. Usually, it may take about a week to 10 days. However, the Queen's Speech on May 25 is a crucial time because this is the opportunity where the administration, assuming that there is one by that time, can put forward a streamlined legislative programme and a list of government priorities for the next Parliament. However, the administration should also be ready if the programme will not be accepted and loses the vote on the Queen's Speech. This could only mean a "no-confidence" vote and force its resignation.

If negotiations between parties and all else fail, leading to an inability of any party to command enough support to get the Queen's Speech through parliament, then a call for a second election is inevitable.

Challenge: Striking a Deal

At this recurring critical moment in Britain's history, in the absence of a so-called formal government, political parties are so much under pressure to make negotiations work. And as mentioned, because of the parties differing views on issues, deals is not easy to come by.

Various tactical alliances are being undertaken by leaders of political parties. For instance, Nick Clegg of the LibDems has been warned because a deal with the Tories might compromise his party's commitment to electoral reform. Clegg is torn between not diluting that commitment and putting his party in power for the first time after almost 90 years. He has to make sure that this kind of deal is workable or else face the risk of being alienated by his co-party members. Senior Left-wing frontbencher Simon Hughes re-echoed that concern. According to him, many LibDems are suspicious of the Tory party being able to deliver.

On the other hand, secret talks of a "progressive alliance" between the LibDem and Labour alongside with the Scottish and Welsh nationalists have been revealed. However, sources from the LibDem party admitted too that this rainbow coalition seemed too unlikely to happen.

As a part of wooing his own party, Nick Clegg in his open to the LibDems, assured that many of their party members are amenable to the Alternative Vote System proposed by the Labour Party, amended by a promise of a referendum on more proportional system.

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THe new UK Parliament opens its first session on May 19, 2010 (nocommenttv)

Analysis

Since the 1900, only two parties reign over the House of Commons and the government, the Tories and the Labour. What happened after the UK 2010 General Election, as seen on the distribution of votes, proves the speculation of many that the people of Great Britain is already tired of the current system of leadership and is now talking about "change."

At present, a hovering deadlock best describes the negotiations. An interim or a coalition government may soon be placed in charge of the preparations for another General Election.

This is nothing new. It is written all over Britain's history that this had happened in the past. However, if the British public is looking for change, the pressing question at the moment is what type of change do they want to see? And are they ready to accept it?

Until the negotiations are over and until it becomes clear as to what type of coalition or minority government will assume power, the questions about change will remain unanswered. It will only be answered once the next government and the "new" Prime Minister pass the ultimate test, which will greatly depend on their responses to the critical issues at present - financial reform, public spending, public debt and the current concerns of Europe.