what does this mean?
That's the European alternative to the one-party government of the english-speaking nations.
In the UK, the Tories came first but could not secure an absolute majority of the votes (because who the fuck votes conservative these days anyway?), resulting in hung parliament- this means they did not elect enough MPs (the equivalent to your Senators) for them to form a majority in the House of Commons (the equivalent to your Senate).
This necessitates a coalition- the coming together of two (or more) parties in order for their MPs to form a majority and subsequently, a government. Some ministries (or "departments") go to ministers from the junior partner, but the largest amount go to the party that received the most votes.
In theory, such an arrangement is supposed to be more democratic, since one party is constantly checking the other- no one party is allowed to fully put its doctrines into practice. They must come to a middle ground on some issues or the country grinds to a halt.
In truth, it turned to be worth fuck all so far in the UK, since the Liberal Democrats who are the junior partners in the coalition have been doing very little to contain the conservatives. Thusly, we've had a tripling of tuition fees in universities (which the Lib Dems had said that they would oppose,
before the election, thus reneging on their promises), social benefits cut and banking institutions remaining unregulated (since they are run by former schoolmates of our prime minister)
right, there goes typing a novel for tonight
