Coalition choices

According to cabinet office guidelines, when there is no clear majority for a single party, the incumbent government remains in office until the prime minister tenders his and the government's resignation to the Queen.

Without a majority for either of the large parties, Labour and the Conservatives could rule together -- but that option, said Roderick Parkes, head of the Brussels bureau of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), is absolutely unthinkable in the UK, "except at a time of absolute national emergency." Despite the financial crisis, he added, that is not the case.

A simple calculation

That leaves the Liberal Democrats, who came in third, as the only feasible coalition partner.

The Liberal Democrats look set to enter into a formal coalition with whichever party promises to reform the UK's electoral system, which is stacked against smaller parties like the Liberals, Parkes told Deutsche Welle.

He could not see the Liberal Democrats going into a coalition where Brown was still the leader, "I see him as a spent force," Parkes said.

The only thing that could make Labour attractive to the Liberal Democrats was the fact that they were weaker than the Conservatives, analyst Parkes noted - "so the Liberal Democrats could perhaps try to push one or two things."

"An unstable government"

"It is the only thing in Gordon Brown's favour at the moment," Parkes said.

"Even if he did manage to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, he'd still be in a minority position. It would be a very unstable government."

Although they seem to be kingmakers at the moment, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg voiced disappointment at his party's showing on Friday.

The Liberals failed to capitalise on an initial surge in their opinion poll ratings, Parkes said. "What they failed to do is to define themselves in the positive sense. Nick Clegg's message has always been: at least we're not Conservative, at least we're not Labour."

Yet the Liberal Democrats' performance showed up the inefficiences of the British electoral system they so wish to change. The party increased their share of the popular vote to around 23 percent, yet ended up actually losing seats in parliament.

Conservatives hope for backing from Liberals

Wooed by both major parties, Liberal leader Clegg was on Friday reported as having expressed willingness to enter in to for talks on forming a governing alliance with the Conservatives, led by David Cameron.

The Conservatives won the largest number of seats but fell short of the parliamentary majority needed to govern alone. The party had slipped in polls in the weeks ahead of the election due largely, analyst Parkes said, to tactical errors and failing to set out a clear agenda.

"The campaign was modelled on Barack Obama and the idea that it was better to have a motivational message than to actually set out concrete policies," he said.

Conservatives or Labour - any new government faces the daunting and potentially unpopular task of cutting a record budget deficit of 189 billion euros ($239 billion) for the 2009/10 fiscal year.

Author: Dagmar Breitenbach
Editor: Rob Turner