Britain's Elections Swing - / Masterpiece Theatre of Politics and Power

Britain's 2010 Elections left the question of who would form the next Government a complete mystery, as the voters chose to keep currently governing Labour, main opposition Conservatives and gadfly Liberal Democrats short of the 326 seats (of 650) needed to form a Majority Government.

Healthy turnout - near 75% in some constituencies, and averaging more than 65% overall - was an expression of extremely deep interest and concern on the part of the electorate, most of all regarding the economy. Turmoil ensued in a few areas where ballots ran out and voters - on line before the 10 p.m. poll closing hour - were disenfranchised. The universal roar - from voters, every political figure, the Elections Commission, the BBC and all other media - was that the world's oldest democracy must take immediate steps to ensure that such an outrage never occurs again. 

The 2 probable scenarios are that Labour will enter into a Minority Coalition with the Liberal Democrats and a handful of progressive regional / factional parties holding a small number of seats to join in the formation of a new Government, or that the Conservatives - who won the most seats - will somehow convince those smaller parties - despite many political and philosophical differences - to go with them. What is certain is that Britain now faces a most rare political phenomenon - a hung Parliament.

For the first time since 1974 - when a transitional Government lasted for all of 4 days - there is absolutely no way to discern where the political and social spin in Britain turns next. The manoeuvring for power and position in a new Government was fully underway with the coming of morning in London. The question at present - in light of issues of economics, immigration / overpopulation, many social needs and International Relations - is how many days (perhaps into weeks) of political horse trading and power parleys will be required to reach an accord to form a new Government, and - having done so - how long the Government will stand.