Britain sees a hung parliament

And so, one awakes this morning to a hung parliament, the Tories with the most seats, Labour clinging on behind and Lib Dems nowhere to be seen. It appears that the British voters preferred to stick with what they knew.

The outrageous news of polling stations all over the country that didn't have enough ballot papers, couldn't cope with the huge influx of voters they never expected, closed doors bang on 22h (as the law stipulates) but allowed people to carry on voting (as the law firmly forbids) means that there are hundreds and hundreds of people who didn't vote - who weren't able to exercise their democratic rights - and there are quite a few who did whose votes should not have been counted. Conclusion? I personally think there should be a revote.  Yes, I know. What a thing to say. But the images on the tv of the scores and scores of people queuing at their polling stations in the pouring rain last night for hours and then being turned away because the voting officers were overwhelmed, well, I couldn't believe that in the 2010 election, I was really seeing it. It's almost third world! How we would laugh if we read, "Voters turned away for shortage of ballot papers," wouldn't we... they should have foreseen it, should have called in other help. That there were Brits who could not vote in their own country at their own polling station is scandalous. Thus, if there are people who pay their taxes (and even those who don't) who tried to vote and couldn't as we know to be the case hundreds of times over, then the result is not a democratic one either and needs to be redone. Of course, thre's no way it can be, unless.....

This from Spiegel:

Power Struggle Begins as Britain Gets Hung Parliament

By Carsten Volkery in London

Photo Gallery: 17 Photos

Getty Images

With most seats counted, the result of the British general election will be a hung parliament, with no single party having a majority. Both the Tories and Labour are insisting on their right to form a government.

After the most exciting general election Britain has experienced in years, no one party has gained a majority in parliament. The questions of which party -- or parties -- will govern the country, and who will be the UK's next prime minister, are still wide open, with speculation rife about possible coalitions and deals between parties.

With 621 of the UK's 650 seats declared, the Conservatives, who have won 291 seats so far, are set to be the biggest party in parliament. They are no longer capable of reaching the 326 seats required for an absolute majority, however. The three major parties are likely to enter into talks on Friday as to the possible makeup of the next government.

The first forecasts based on exit polls after Thursday's vote came as no surprise. For months, Britain has been expecting that the result of the election would be a hung parliament, which would be the first since 1974. As early as February, the Labour government was looking into what it would do in such an event.

Election night was marked by plenty of confusion. There were scenes reminiscent of those after the German national election in 2005, when the defeated Chancellor Gerhard Schröder tried to deny his opponent Angela Merkel victory.

'Get Real'

The poll numbers had hardly flickered across television screens before Labour Party heavyweights such as Business Secretary Peter Mandelson and Foreign Secretary David Miliband were appearing before the cameras, insisting on their right to form the next government. "The rules are, if it's a hung parliament, it's not the party with the largest number of seats that has the first go, it's the sitting government," said Mandelson.

The Conservatives' shadow finance minister George Osborne retorted indignantly, saying: "Get real." The fact that Labour had lost 94 seats while the Conservatives has won 95, was a "decisive rejection" of the government, he said, adding that the Labour Party could not possibly remain in office.

Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats, the UK's third party which turned into a force to be reckoned with during the election campaign, have not done as well as expected. Veteran Tory politician David Davis warned against "a coalition of losers."

Nevertheless, David Miliband, who is the current favorite to take over as leader of the Labour Party should Gordon Brown step down, immediately started to make advances toward Labour's possible coalition partner. "If no party has an absolute majority, no party has a moral right to a monopoly of power," he said. In that case, the voters would have given politicians "an injunction to talk to each other," he said, deliberately echoing words used by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg during the campaign. One must recognize the new circumstances in Britain and not hold on to the "old" politics, he said.

Turmoil on the Markets

Even before a majority of constituencies had been counted, the financial markets were reacting to the results. Observers in the City had warned that an unclear election result would cause unrest on the markets and put pressure on the pound. Hectic trading took place on London's trading floors, which had opened specially in the middle of the night, and the pound fell against the dollar as it became clear that a hung parliament could be expected. Uncertainty about the next government is likely to fuel further turmoil on the markets over the course of Friday.

The wrangling for advantage between Labour and the Conservatives is likely to continue for a time, unless the final vote count shows the Conservatives winning an absolute majority after all. Both sides are keen to cement their claim to power. Peter Hennessy, a historian at the University of London, saw the advantage as lying with Labour. He said that the rules were clear, and that it was the right of the incumbent prime minister to seek a coalition partner. The talk about the largest party in parliament having a "moral right" was misleading, he added.

Gordon Brown, however, did not give the impression that he wanted to be part of that game. He looked sheepish as he appeared before supporters in his home town of Kirkcaldy, Scotland, in the early hours of Friday morning after the local constituency result had been announced. He had won more votes than during the last election, probably as a result of the election "bonus" that comes with being prime minister.

He did not seem to be in the mood to celebrate, however. He rattled off his speech in a business-like fashion, thanked his supporters and praised the "legendary campaigning skills" of his wife Sarah. Sarah Brown, for her part, only smiled wearily.

In his speech, Brown said that, although the election result was not yet known, he saw it as his duty to help form a "strong, stable and principled government, able to lead Britain into sustained economic recovery." He also said he was "proud of much that the Labour government has achieved," a formulation that sounded suspiciously like a farewell speech. It remains to be seen what role he sees for himself in the forthcoming negotiations.

The Conservative challenger David Cameron also kept his cards close to his chest when he addressed supporters at 3 a.m. in his Witney constituency. In a statesmanlike speech, he said that he would be guided by the "national interest" in the talks between the parties. He insisted, however, that Labour had lost its mandate to govern.

Chaos at Polling Stations

The uncertain outcome was not the only source of confusion on election night. There were also chaotic scenes outside polling stations, as many election workers were caught unprepared for an onslaught of voters. In some places there were too few voting booths and too few staff, while ballot sheets were given out too early in some constituencies.

The turnout was significantly higher than in 2005, and long lines formed outside polling stations across the country on Thursday evening. At some polling stations, hundreds of people, including many young voters, were still waiting to vote when the doors were closed at 10 p.m., prompting angry protests. One woman in the city of Sheffield said it was "terribly undemocratic." Over the course of the evening, she said, she had been deterred three times by the length of the line outside her polling station and had gone away, deciding to try again later. In the end she was not able to get in. "We wanted to vote," she said, "but we were not allowed."

A similar fate befell hundreds of voters in London, Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds. "Things work more smoothly in Afghanistan," complained one woman. Britain's Electoral Commission has already announced an investigation into the confusion. Some leading Labour politicians hinted that they might try to contest the election result. Cameron said it would be the job of the new government to ensure that such scenes are not repeated.

The huge crowds of voters showed just how much this election has politicized the British public. Voters on the street said that it had been a long time since they had talking so intensely about politics. One reason for the general interest was the televised debates between the three leading candidates, a first in British history, which made the campaign much more personal. Many voters also felt that the country needed a change in direction.

Those voters may soon need to go to the polls again, however. Historically, a hung parliament in Britain has never lasted very long. Most of them had durations that were counted in months, with some only lasting weeks or even just days.