For those of us who stayed up until the small hours watching the results unfold, the British general election was enthralling and completely moved along uncharted territory. Several days on, in the cold light of day, this seems to be an election that nobody won.
Gordon Brown's resignation as Prime Minister demonstrates the personal rejection of both him and his government. The Conservatives won the popular vote and 306 seats but, privately, leader David Cameron and, equally importantly, their activists, expected a workable majority of between 15 and 30 seats. To be reduced to forming a new, coalition government by offering Liberal Democrats seats in a new Cabinet, and an offer on reforming the voting system, is a nightmare scenario and Mr Cameron's authority as party leader could be fatally weakened.
On the other side, many Labour supporters regard this result as the great escape. With 258 seats in a hung Parliament, Labour are in a strong position in opposition alongside the left-leaning Scottish and Welsh nationalists and Britain's first Green party MP Caroline Lucas. Still, with a vote share of 29 per cent, it is Labour's worst performance since the Thatcherite 1980s. There can be no escaping that fact.
For the Liberal Democrats, however, this is the one that got away. Their leader, Nick Clegg, was the star of the campaign, outperforming both Mr Cameron and Mr Brown in the three US-style TV debates. Still, when it came to the crunch, the Liberal vote collapsed to 23 per cent (winning 57 seats) and far from the 30 predicted gains.
For them, the coalition means they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. There are gaping divisions between the two parties. On the issue of Europe the Lib Dems are openly federalist while Mr Cameron, especially with regard to the euro, makes Margaret Thatcher look like a diehard Europhile! Lib Dem economics spokesman Vince Cable, now a Cabinet minister responsible for banking reform, has been vocally criticising Britain's financiers for years.
But if the Lib Dems were the ones to wreck the coalition, they would face the charge that, with Britain needing to take measures to cut its £160 billion deficit, they had shown themselves too childish to provide a stable government.
On the other hand, accepting a deal involving a few Cabinet positions with the Conservatives will leave thousands of Lib Dem activists feeling bitterly betrayed.
If such a coalition were not to survive, Labour could well be in a perfect position to ram home the message that voting Lib Dem let the Conservatives into Downing Street by the back door and that the Lib Dems (alongside the Conservatives) were responsible for swingeing and unpopular public spending cuts. Labour could be back in power sooner than expected.
It is also worth remembering that most Lib Dem supporters consider themselves to be much closer ideologically to Labour than to the Conservatives. An opinion poll taken on the eve of the election revealed that 43 per cent of Lib Dem voters described themselves as centre-left or left, compared to 29 per cent who described themselves as centrist and just nine per cent who described themselves as centre-right or right.
Tony Blair's former adviser, Alistair Campbell, has already revealed that Labour HQ has been flooded with calls from Lib Dem members seeking to defect to Labour.
The fact is that most Lib Dems are either centrist or left-leaning. As a result, this election should finally end the myth that Britain is a conservative country.
With 52 per cent voting for centrist or left-leaning parties, it clearly is not.
Meanwhile, Mr Brown's resignation as Labour leader plunges the party into a leadership contest. Expect one or even both of the Miliband brothers (David and Ed) to stand, while Ed Balls, widely seen as a divisive figure, John Cruddas and Andy Burnham could also be candidates. David Miliband starts the race as favourite. However, this contest will not be completed for several months.
So, British politics is in a state of flux. How many, if any, of the two remaining party leaders will survive this British tsunami and whether a new voting system will break the centuries-old two-party hold on British politics only the future can tell.
Prof. Scicluna is a Labour member of the European Parliament.