Britain General Elections 2015: Of Cliffhanger and Kingmakers

Everyone loves a good cliffhanger. And that is what the upcoming General Elections in the United Kingdom have begun to look like as the campaign draws to an end.

Thanks to the passionate last-ditch efforts made by the candidates (especially PM David Cameron) to woo voters, the upcoming elections are now enjoying a decent dose of attention as the clouds of apathy cleared away over what was in its initial stages being considered lacklustre and boring.

With less than a week to go before what is being touted as the most unpredictable election in UK's history, the only thing predicted unanimously about the elections 2015 is that they are going to be certainly uncertain.

The election is being called the closest in a generation and major issues include National Health Scheme, economy, UK's possible 'Brexit' from EU and immigration.

Ever since the countdown to the UK election began, leading pollsters of the country have been expecting a neck-and-neck race between the centre-right Conservatives and the opposition Labour party. 

Consequently, an ever rising possibility of a hung Parliament is on the cards, bringing in spotlight the potential kingmakers rather than the kings.

Britain met a similar fate in 2010 elections when David Cameron's Conservative Party emerged as the single largest political outfit with 307 seats, but fell 20 short of the magic number of 326 (required to form a majority government in the 650-member Parliament). 

Ed Miliband's Labour came second (258 seats) and Nick Clegg's Liberal Democratic Party was the third biggest with 57 seats.

The Conservatives teamed up with Clegg's Liberal Democrats to form the ruling coalition and Cameron, the youngest PM in a decade, became the proud occupant of 10 Downing Street.

However, it is not 2010. The UK has undergone major changes in the last five years and possible party equations in the aftermath of elections look complicated enough to compete with the toughest of differential calculus sums.

Moving from mathematics to chemistry, the two parties that have added to UK's political effervescence and catalysed the possibility of a hung Parliament are the SNP (Scottish National Party) led by Nicola Sturgeon and anti-EU UKIP (UK Independence Party) led by a cigar-smoking right-wing firebrand leader Nigel Farage.

Both these parties are being seen as the ones poised to be the potential kingmakers as against the last elections. 

Thanks to the Scottish referendum held last year, the SNP has witnessed a vigorous political awakening among Scots and the polls suggest the party may grab 50 out of 59 Scotland's seats in stark contrast to 2010 vote when they won mere six.

The surge of Scottish nationalist sentiments has further added to the uncertainty factor as the SNP might eat into the Labour's vote share. For, most of the Labour supporters who voted Yes in last year's referendum will not say Yes to a party that sided with the Tories against the Scottish independence.

Further adding to their disenchantment is Ed Miliband's resolute vow of not forming any coalition with the SNP to form the government. Miliband has asserted that the Labour will never find itself in a coalition or a “confidence and supply deal” with the SNP. However, the SNP might provide a minority Labour government with an issue-by-issue support, which Miliband can't rule out.

If polls are anything to go by, the SNP is set to replace the Liberal Democrats as the potential kingmakers. 

Nigel Farage's anti-EU party UKIP too is no less influential as according to the latest YouGov poll, UKIP at 12% support was faring better than the SNP (8%).

The polls so far have placed Cameron and Miliband on an almost equal footing with each garnering over 34% support but after the latest and final TV showdown, Cameron's performance was regarded as the best.

The latest Red Box poll suggested that Cameron's ideas were more optimistic. With just one week to go until the polling day, an Ipsos Mori poll brought a fresh whiff of energy for Cameron as it gave the Conservatives a five-point lead over the Labour.

Cameron was seen in a rather passionate and energetic avatar in the final TV showdown at BBC Question Time where he along with Miliband and Nick Clegg were bombarded with tough audience questions.

While Cameron seemed to dither on issues like NHS and immigration, he was all fired up on the issue of economy, flaunting his government's better show on this front and warning the voters of a “big risk” if Miliband and SNP were brought to the helm.

Cameron also cashed in on a 2010 note left by the outgoing Labour government's treasury secretary that said "no money left". Taking the credit for getting the economic recovery back on track, he said, "It takes a long time to fix the mess that I was left with."

Countering questions on a possible 'Brexit', Cameron said that if re-elected he won't go back on his promise of holding an in/out referendum on the EU. Though, Cameron supports Britain as a part of EU, the rise of the UKIP outside and eurosceptics within his party necessitates the referendum that may be held by 2017.   

Seeking to project a confident and self-assured self, PM Cameron brushed aside speculations of a hung Parliament and joked how he would want to avoid doing a deal in a "darkened room with Nick Clegg”.

When Miliband came to speak, he was seen struggling to answer the questions related to the Labour government's spendthrift nature. He, though, won applause on immigration issue and mocked Cameron's failure to live up to his words of reducing the net inflow of migrants.

However, in what played spoilsport with his sincere attempts to shrug off the socially awkward image painted by his detractors, he stumbled while leaving the stage at the Leeds Town Hall. 

When it was Nick Clegg's turn to face the heat by questioners, the Liberal Democrat remained unapologetic about his joining the Tories for 2010 coalition, saying he put the country before the party.

Clegg was also grilled over his U-turn on tuition fee hike and bedroom tax. However, the Liberal Democrat unabashedly suggested that whoever be the king, his aim was to be the kingmaker.

He had earlier said that his party would provide “heart to the heartless Conservatives” and “brain to the thoughtless Labour”.

Clegg returned the “darkened room” joke on Cameron and Miliband, saying they were wrong to fantasise about a majority government and if they “still think they are going to win a majority they need to go and lie down in that darkened room".

But jokes apart, the UK election results are going to be a serious affair as they are set to have wide-ranging ramifications not just for Britain, but for the entire Europe.

Will Cameron manage to eke out a majority or will Miliband settle for a coalition with the SNP? Will Cameron repeat a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats or will the Labour form a minority government with SNP backing it on a vote-by-vote issue? Or least probably, will the UK elections witness something completely different and unprecedented?  

The beauty of the UK election is that, like life, it is uncertain and anything can happen. 
So, wait for May 8!