Hanging in the Balance

If you’ve been watching the world news of politics, we are in some strange times indeed. It seems that for every person that feels strongly about one thing, there is one other that feels the opposite, causing great, wide-sweeping divides.

Last night, in the overnight hours, people of the UK watched at a fever pitch the election poll results come in for the Prime Minister general election. In the end, it was too close a call and the result is a “Hung Parliament.” But what does that mean?

To be brief, it means that the minimum 326 of the 650 seats in the House of Common were not clinched by one party, thus resulting with no clear majority winner. This has happened only twice before in British history. What now must happen is the incumbent must approach the Queen and ask to form a new government and coalition with the party that has essentially “tied” with them. That happened this morning, with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May visiting Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace and receiving the Queen’s blessing. The two political parties must then work together to govern in conjunction with one another. Not a bad plan in theory, as it seems it would eliminate bi-partisan issues, but time will tell. If a new government coalition can’t be formed, another election will be forced.