As voters go to the polls today, one of the possible outcomes of the General Election 2015 is a hung parliament.
This occurs when no party holds a majority once all the votes have been counted.
There then follows a period of negotiation between all the political parties represented in the House of Commons, in order to establish a new government.
While this is going on, the previous government might temporarily remain in power. But if the leader of the incumbent government cannot command a majority and decides to resign, then it falls to the leader of the largest opposition party to form a government.
They might choose to do this either as a minority, or as a coalition with other parties.
So one possible situation might be if Labour choose to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in the event that the Conservatives cannot command a majority.
After the General Election in 2010, there was a hung parliament. Labour remained in power while negotiations were held between the main parties to form a government.
It was later announced that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats would form a coalition government, with Conservative leader David Cameron as Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister.
