The British elections for the House of Commons have greatly surprised analysts and international media. According to opinion polls, the electoral results were expected to be extremely close, almost certain to produce a hung parliament. Questions asked to political leaders and contenders were almost invariably, "Who would you choose as a coalition partner?" The British electoral system usually delivers political stability, to the expense of fair representation. A hung parliament is rarely seen, but this "two-and-a-half party" system greatly disadvantages all parties other than the two biggest and most dominant ones: The Tories and Labour.This time, the system, against all expectations, also delivered a stable parliament. The official results are still unknown, but it is more than probable that the Conservative Party will be able to have a tiny majority in parliament. That will allow Prime Minister David Cameron to form a government without searching for a coalition partner or looking for a parliamentarian majority for a minority government.The elections have revealed a number of surprises. First and foremost was the performance of the Scottish National Party (SNP) who won virtually every available seat in Scotland, which is unprecedented. The Labour Party experienced a historical defeat, losing almost 40 seats, while the SNP went from six seats to 56, maybe more. The second – rather nasty – surprise is the situation of the Liberal Democrats and its leader Nick Clegg, who were largely "punished" for having helped the Tories to form a coalition government with the previous hung parliament. As much as the rise of regionalism was anticipated, this rebuke of the Liberal Democrats came as a very unpleasant development. It demonstrated that a minor political force, if it chooses to be in the government and take responsibilities, loses ground, whereas remaining in the opposition and voicing concern and disapproval for every issue offers much more handsome rewards.There is also another issue that the opinion polls and analysts largely overlooked: The electorate does not really yearn for radical changes when economic growth remains acceptable, when unemployment is declining and when inflation is contained. At this juncture, embracing a left-oriented electoral program and a very intellectual but rather cold-looking leader such as Ed Miliband have not been very good ideas for Labour.But most importantly, the electoral contest in the U.K. has shown all of us once again that the mobilization of the electorate is essential. The majority of the seats won by the Tories was mainly due to good mobilization on the part of their traditional voters, whereas the other parties – except the SNP – did not fare so well.In Turkey, there are also some lessons that could be drawn from the British elections. Very much like the Tories, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has been delivering good, sometimes outstanding, economic performance over the last 13 years. It is virtually certain that in four weeks' time, there will be a new electoral victory for them. The trouble is, when the opposition loses an electoral contest in the U.K., they are mature enough to admit defeat and to question their policies and stances. In Turkey, it is already visible that the opposition is preparing to unearth conspiracy theories and justifications for yet another electoral defeat. This is the main difference and the main divide between the British and Turkish democracies.