What happened in last week’s British election

Why do the Liberal Democrats insist on reform of the British electoral system?

The voting system is known as “first past the post” and often skews the composition of Parliament away from the popular vote.

Candidates are elected to Parliament by winning the most votes — not necessarily a majority — in their district. Therefore, the parties that concentrate their support in individual districts can send more representatives to Parliament than parties that have more evenly distributed support across the nation.

This is why Labor was able to capture 258 seats in Parliament with just 29% of the popular vote, whereas the Liberal Democrats, whose support base is more diffuse, won only 57 seats despite garnering 23% of the popular vote.

The Liberal Democrats advocate a more proportional form of representation.

Who gets to form a government?

The party that wins a majority of seats in the House of Commons is entitled to name a prime minister (by tradition, the party leader) and put together a government.

In the event of no party gaining a majority, a “hung Parliament” results. This is what happened in Thursday’s election, in which the Conservatives took the most seats but fell slightly short of the 326 needed for a majority.

The last time Britain faced a hung Parliament was in 1974.

What happens now?

The Liberal Democrats potentially hold the key to power and are in negotiations with the Conservatives.

They could join a formal coalition government, in which Liberal Democrats are awarded a few Cabinet posts.

In a more informal arrangement, they could agree to support some of the Tories’ key initiatives in exchange for action on some of their own pet causes.

Or the Conservatives could form a minority government, one that seeks to pass legislation by making deals with smaller parties issue by issue — not just the Liberal Democrats, but even tiny groupings such as regional parties from Northern Ireland. However, such arrangements are often unstable, forcing fresh elections within months.

— Times Staff Writer Henry Chu