The United Kingdom general election of 2010 was held on Thursday 6 May 2010 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 Labour Party, led by Gordon Brown, won the largest number of votes and seats but were still twenty seats short. This resulted in a hung parliament where no party would be able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This last occurred in the February 1974 election, and only twice since the Second World War.