Hung parliaments may be strange to Australians, but for voters around the world living with a minority government is more the rule than the exception.
Europe, in particular, has a history of patchwork governments, with the likes of Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands rarely seeing a single political party governing in its own right.
Closer to home, in New Zealand, neither the Labour nor National parties has won a majority since 1996.
Perhaps most relevant to Australia is the minority government in Britain, which has seen the conservatives and Liberal Democrats strike an unlikely but so far successful alliance.
Britain came out of its latest election with its first hung parliament since the end of World War 2, forcing Tory leader David Cameron and the Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg to form a partnership.
In its first 100 days, Britain's coalition government has surprised many by swiftly pushing through its economic reforms, despite predictions the pact between the two parties would soon collapse.
But sweeping public service cuts are to come, and the fallout is likely to strain relations between the conservatives and the progressive Liberal Democrats.
Cross the channel, though, and the Dutch experience may be cause for concern.
No party has held a majority in the Dutch House of Representatives since 1897, and the latest attempts to forge a coalition, this time between the ruling Christian Democrats, Liberals and right-wing Freedom Party, have stalled.
One month after the Dutch general elections, the makeup of the government is still being fought over.
One obstacle is the anti-immigration, anti-Islamic Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, whose strident outbursts have angered his potential coalition partners.
Economic austerity measures present another hurdle. Liberal leader and expected prime minister Mark Rutte wants cuts, while the populist Mr Wilders wants to protect welfare.
Meanwhile, Canada has had successive hung parliaments, leading to governments that had varying degrees of success.
Canada has a Westminster political system, like Australia and Britain.
Stephen Harper's Conservative Party defeated a Liberal minority government in 2006, going on to form another minority administration.
The Harper government was a model of stability until after the 2008 election, when the prime minister suspended parliament twice to avert opposition attempts to topple him.
In New Zealand, the introduction of the mixed member proportional voting system in 1996 signalled the end of majority government.
Since then, the National Party and Labour Party have had to forge respective alliances with minor parties to form government.
In 2008, John Key's Nationals, with confidence-and-supply support from the ACT, United Future and Maori parties, ended Labour's nine-years in power.
