Brits how do you feel about a possible coalition government?

I hate elections because one is forced to come face to face with how phenomenally stupid their fellow citizens are. We were told going into this that our economy was broken, that our debts were out of control, and that spending needed to be drastically cut, and we all knew that a coalition government would make getting these things accomplished more difficult, yet people insisted on voting in such a way that they knew would make a hung parliament inevitable. Now we have a situation where the libdem party, who are quite frankly lunatics, have unprecedented control in parliament even though they came in third, a situation where back room deals and maneuvers will take place behind closed doors, and a situation where we now have an incredibly unstable government. I think it's wonderful < note the sarcasm.

You can't have a coalition government in the USA. The President is elected separately from Congress, so it's not a similar situation at all. You just have a President who is working with a Congress that is opposed to him.

What actually happens in a true coalition government is that you end up with Ministers who are from more than one party, which just wouldn't happen in the American system. There's no problem with it provided that the coalition partners can agree on what they want to do. It happens in continental Europe all the time, where the use of proportional representation voting ensures that no one party ever wins an overall majority.

I have no problem at all with the principle. It's who the coalition partners would in practice be that I don't like the sound of. Being the third party, the Liberal Democrats are likely to be the junior partner in any coalition and they are far too unquestioningly pro-European Union. I do not want to be part of a "United States of Europe", which is the unspoken goal of the EU, nor am I that keen on joining the Euro. OK it's convenient when I visit continental Europe - I can go all over the place without changing money - but being part of a common currency means you have surrendered a lot of control over your own economy, and if all the national economies using the same currency aren't equally strong, the weaker ones fall into deep doo-doo - as Greece is experiencing at this very moment. I support the Conservative position on this - it would not be good for the UK to leave the EU completely as being part of the same "club" as our neighbours helps trade and the economy, but it is trying to erode our independence.

What might be really fascinating is a grand coalition - one that involves the two main parties. Germany is run this way at the moment. I very much doubt that would happen in the UK as the two main German parties (Social Democrats and Christian Democrats) are much closer together than Labour and Conservative are.

Update: the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats spent the evening of May 7 having talks, and now the Liberal Democrat MPs are considering amongst themselves what is on offer from the Conservatives. The big sticking point is likely to be reform of the voting system - it has been Liberal Democrat policy for many many years that the British House of Commons should be elected by proportional representation, and specifically they want the Single Transferable Vote, an election method so complicated that the electorate as a whole has no chance of understanding how the votes are counted. The Conservatives don't want this. One possibility is to park the issue and agree to hold a referendum on it, but possibly some of the Lib Dem MPs might feel that is too much of a climb-down. We shall have to see. I think the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders themselves really want to make this work - they're very socially similar, with the same public school/Oxford background - but they need to be able to carry their MPs with them.

The majority of people in this country have made it clear with their votes that they dont want the Lib Dems or Labour running the country. Its absolutely absured that in a democracy two parties who have lost would be allowed to take power through a coalition government.

I see it as the peoples punishment on parliament for the expenses scandal. Once the dust has settled on Parliament I hope the press turn to The Lords, The European Gravy Train, The Judiciary, and The BBC. The UK is absolutely rotten to the core and need a wake up call and these money grabbing free loaders need to be brought to account.

It is an absolutely despicable situation dear Evie. You know, my fellow Old Etonian Mr Cameron was positively crestfallen last night that the frightful commoners of this country did not confer him with an overall majority. If you ask me, it all started to go wrong when they broadened the franchise to people other than the Nobility and wealthy landowners. You see dear girl, sometimes the public must be protected from themselves. I have often remarked to Her Majesty that an absolute monarchy is what we need. We should dispense with Parliament altogether if this is the way that the ingrates treat the Conservatives. I shall be advising The Queen to dissolve Parliament for once and for all on the 25th of this month. I believe dear old King Charles I had the right idea!

excellent idea.