Bloomberg: ‘Chaos’ Inevitable in UK Elections

From Bloomberg Business:

The only dependable prediction for the outcome of the U.K.’s May 7 election is this: chaos.

All of the opinion polls are clear: Instead of a decisive winner, there will be hobbled aspirants, each cajoling as many as seven smaller parties to give up their independence and prop up a minority or coalition government for a fixed term of five years.

Forming a government could take a while. It will without doubt be untidy. And unlike in 2010, when David Cameron succeeded in rapidly conjuring up a two-party coalition that survived a full term, there’s a very real possibility that nobody will manage to repeat the feat this time.

Indeed, by the time this election is over, political analysts say the U.K. may end up with a government quite unlike any in the past 35 years — weak, with no clear mandate to rule, cobbling together deals to get even the most minor issues through an unruly Parliament.

“If the polls are right, it’ll be a total mess,” said Rob Ford, a politics lecturer at Manchester University. “Every single vote in Parliament is going to need constant wheedling to get it over the line. You could be having regular confidence votes, with games of brinkmanship on both sides.”

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