The results as emerged on Friday gave the main opposition Conservative party the most seats with 306 constituencies, while the ruling Labour party trailed second with 258 and the Liberal Democrats took 57.
With no party boasting a governing majority, the United Kingdom has a hung parliament for the first time since 1974. Now the deal-making has to begin.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, made a clear overture to David Cameron, the leader of the Conservatives, early on Friday when he said that Cameron's party, having taken the most seats, had "the first right to seek government". And this was met with a response from Cameron, who said he was making a "big, open and comprehensive" offer to the Liberal Democrats to help form a majority government. Although not offering the Liberals much that they want.For example, on the issue of the country's electoral system, the Conservative leader would merely promise an "all party committee of inquiry on political and electoral reform". Which is all talk and no action and certainly therefore not good enough to seal a deal.
Enter Gordon Brown, Britain's beaten but constitutionally still-prime minister, as he desperately tries to cling to power in the aftermath of the poll. However, Mr Brown has made it very clear that he was prepared to deliver immediate legislation for a referendum on electoral reform if Mr Clegg was prepared to keep him in Downing Street.
But then such a Lab-Lib alliance, already being dubbed a ‘coalition of the losers’, would see Clegg propping up a prime minister he described during the election as a "desperate politician" and whose party he declared had been "a stubborn block to reform and progress" for 13 years.
The ‘triple-lock’
But even if any coalition deal should come to the fore, Mr Clegg is then faced with what is known as his party's "triple-lock" policy to secure party support.The mechanism, introduced by Paddy Ashdown, a former Lib Dem leader, means that Mr Clegg would need the agreement of his MPs, the party's executive and the membership before he could enter into government with either of the two larger parties.
The "triple-lock" rules state that any agreement that "could affect the party's independence of political action" requires the support of 75% of the parliamentary party, and 75% per cent of the party's federal executive (and failing that the support of two-thirds of the wider party, such as those like myself).
However, it should be noted that one way of getting around the "triple-lock" policy would be for the Lib Dems to agree to support either party on a bill-by-bill basis, rather than in any formal coalition.
So as the MP for Sheffield Hallam begins consultations this weekend with his party, he is currently faced with one offer that fails to provide the party with their most cherished ambition of electoral reform and proportional representation and another in which it props up a government whose policies it has consistently criticised.
So as you can see, it is a difficult dilemma facing Mr Clegg and Britain’s “third party” and as a result Mr Cameron's appeal for a quick agreement looks increasingly optimistic.
