It's the old 80/20 rule... Liberal Democrats got 80% of the votes Labour got but only got 20% of the seats Labour got.
When the first exit poll was released at 10pm last night there was unanimous scepticism among the experts that Lib Dems would secure so little seats. In the end the exit polls were remarkably accurate and actually overestimated the Lib Dem results (the Final Poll is based on the 649 seats declared with one to come)
Cons | Labour | Lib Dems | Other | |
| Exit Poll | 307 | 255 | 59 | 29 |
| Final Poll | 306 | 258 | 57 | 28 |
It wasn't that Lib Dems vote collapsed – they still secured 23% of the overall vote – but it was a far cry from what was expected a week ago when Nick Clegg was lauded as being more popular than Winston Churchill. So how did this happen, how can Lib Dems be so popular yet have so few seats?
The reason is Voter Distribution or to put it even simpler "First is first and second is nowhere". Labour and Conservatives voters are traditionally concentrated in strongholds (e.g. urban areas for Labour). Liberal Democrats voters are more evenly distributed as evidenced by them winning the most northerly (Orkney & Shetland) and the most southerly seats (St. Ives) in the UK. So while they may not win many seats, the Lib Dems will probably come second more than any other party. In other words the Lib Dems are like the nice guy ('I agree with Nick'), nobody hates them and their most people's second choice... but in politics nice guys finish last. At least in the current first past the post system used for Westminster Elections.
So how do the other parties compare? By comparing the actual seats won by each of the Top 13 parties to the total number of votes received, some interesting observations can be made:
| Party | Seats | Votes | Votes/Seat | Rank |
| Conservative | 306 | 10,706,647 | 34,989 | 4 |
| Labour | 258 | 8,604,358 | 33,350 | 2 |
| Liberal Democrat | 57 | 6,827,938 | 119,788 | 9 |
| DUP | 8 | 168,216 | 21,027 | 1 |
| SNP | 6 | 491,386 | 81,898 | 8 |
| Sinn Fein | 5 | 171,942 | 34,388 | 3 |
| Plaid Cymru | 3 | 165,394 | 55,131 | 7 |
| SDLP | 3 | 110,970 | 36,990 | 5 |
| Green | 1 | 285,616 | 285,616 | 10 |
| Alliance | 1 | 42,762 | 42,762 | 6 |
| UK Ind Party | 0 | 917,832 | ||
| BNP | 0 | 563,743 | ||
| UUP | 0 | 102,361 |
Lady Hermon won North Down as an independent with 21,181 votes
- Labour win 4 times as many seats as Lib Dems for the same number of votes cast
- DUP is the most efficient political party in the UK, needing an average 21,027 votes to win a seat
- DUP are the 4th biggest party in the UK in terms of MPs but are 9th largest in terms of votes
- The UK Independence Party is the 4th biggest party in the UK in terms of votes yet have no MPs
- British National Party secured almost 50,000 more votes than all the NI winning parties - DUP, Sinn Fein, SDLP, Alliance and Lady Hermon - put together yet has no MPs
The UK Independence Party and the British National Party together have more votes (24,108) than all the 'Other Parties' – DUP, SNP, Sinn Fein, Plaid Cymru, SDLP, Green Party, Alliance & Lady Hermon – put together yet have no MPs
Northern Ireland
- The Ulster Unionists (UCUNF) secured over 60% of the votes of the DUP but have no seats compared to the DUP's 8 seats
- Whilst Sinn Fein (5 MPs) topped the poll in NI but still have 3 seats less than the DUP (8 MPs)
- Naomi Long may have beaten Peter Robinson, yet if the Alliance as a whole had matched the DUP's electoral efficiency they would now have 2 MPs
The DUP would be even further ahead had their leader not lost his seat in the biggest upset of the night. In fact if the Lib Dems were as electorally efficient as the DUP they would have 325 seats and be able to form a majority government on their own (assuming Sinn Fein continue their abstention policy).
Would Proportional Representation save the Lib Dems who knows... but you can understand Nick Clegg making it a precondition for a coalition government. There may be no more Nice Guy Nick in the future!
