British governance up in the air

LONDON, May 7 (UPI) -- Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg snubbed Labor Party overtures Friday, saying Tory David Cameron should get first crack at forming a new British government.

With the Conservatives poised to be the party holding the largest number of seats in the House of Commons -- but falling 20 seats shy of a majority -- Clegg repeated his argument that the party with the most seats should get the first chance to form a government, not the incumbent party, The Times of London reported.

Results from Thursday's elections yielded a hung Parliament, the first in more than three decades, analysts said. Projections published by the BBC indicated the Conservative Party would win 291 seats, a 92-seat gain, Labor would seat 250 members, a loss of 86, and Liberal Democrats would have 51 seats, a loss of six.

"I stick to that view," Clegg said. "It seems this morning that it is the Conservative Party which has more votes and more seats -- although not an absolute majority -- which is why I now think that it is the Conservative Party which should seek to govern in the national interest."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who watched his Labor Party lose its majority, offered to negotiate an alliance with the Liberal Democrats, including an offer to consider voting reforms.

Clegg said voting reforms would be key in negotiations with either Cameron or Brown, pointing out that while his party lost seats in Parliament, it captured a greater proportion of the vote than ever before, The Times said.

"It is clear that our electoral system is broken," he said.

Cameron said the vote indicated Britons were ready for a change and new leadership, but stopped short of claiming the mandate, The Times said. He said he would "stand ready" to help mold a stable government working for the national interest.

The Tories may have claimed the most seats since 1931, but Labor Party campaign director Peter Mandelson said Brown, by law, remains in power.

"The constitutional conventions are very clear," Mandelson said. "The rules are that if it's a hung Parliament, it's not the party with the largest number of seats that has first go, it's the sitting government."

The Greens claimed their first parliamentary seat when party leader Caroline Lucas won a three-way contest with Labor and the Liberal Democrats.

"For once, the word 'historic' seems to fit the bill," Lucas told supporters.

Voters chased two former home secretaries, results indicated. Charles Clark lost to Liberal Democrat Simon Wright by 310 votes. Jacqui Smith, who endured a scandal about expenses claimed for adult films watched by her husband, lost her seat to Conservative Karen Lumley.

Reports from across the British Isles indicated thousands of people were turned away from polling stations without casting ballots, The Times said. Reports indicated some stations were overrun with people wanting to vote and other stations ran out of ballots.