The
United Kingdom general election of 2010 was held on Thursday, 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the
House of Commons. The
election took place in
650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the
first-past-the-post system. None of the parties achieved the 326 seats needed for an overall majority. The
Conservative Party, led by
David Cameron, won the largest number of votes and seats but still fell 20 seats short. This resulted in a
hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This was only the second general election since
World War II to return a hung parliament, the first being the
February 1974 election. Unlike in 1974, the potential for a hung parliament had this time been widely considered and predicted and both the country and politicians were better prepared for the constitutional process that would follow such a result. The
coalition government that was subsequently formed was the first coalition in British history to eventuate directly from an election outcome.