With the specter of a hung Parliament rising in the run-up to the vote, the government's Cabinet Office said it would soon publish guidelines for dealing with a postelection landscape in which no party commands an absolute majority in the House of Commons.
One option would be to give Prime Minister Gordon Brown up to 18 days to keep his job by forming a coalition government with smaller parties, even if his Labour Party wins fewer seats than the opposition Conservatives, according to British media Wednesday.
"They're saying 18 days should be enough time to know whether you can put a government together," said analyst Leighton Vaughan Williams, director of the Political Forecasting Unit at Nottingham Business School.
If Brown cannot form a stable coalition in that time, he would have to resign, giving Conservative Party leader David Cameron a chance to form a government, the analyst said.
The government would not confirm the 18-day detail, saying only that it would release the contingency plan within days, after final proposals and comments are considered.
Civil servants are right to be studying the options now, Vaughan Williams said, as "we don't want to start thinking about it the day after the election."
For months opinion polls had put the Conservatives far in the lead, but recent surveys suggest the party may not win a clear victory.
While Britain's political scene is dominated by Labour and the Conservatives, several smaller groups are likely to win seats they could then use as bargaining chips in coalition talks.
The centrist Liberal Democrats - the country's third largest party - are seen as potentially vital dealmakers if a hung Parliament develops. But its leader, Nick Clegg, has said he would not play a decisive kingmaking role if no clear winner emerges.
"It should be abundantly clear who has the strongest mandate," Liberal Democrat spokesman Simon Waddington said.
Brown has yet to announce an election date, though the ballot must take place by June 3 and is expected on May 6. As a result it is still unclear when the new Parliament would hold its first session.
The last time a British general election led to a hung Parliament was in 1974, also a time of economic crisis. A hung Parliament also developed in 1996 when fading Prime Minister John Major saw his majority vanish with a string of by-election defeats.
The constitutional arrangements for a hung Parliament are complex and open to interpretation, leading to concerns that a sustained period of uncertainty might jeopardize the strength of Britain's currency at a time when Britain is already burdened by a substantial budget deficit.
The fear of instability has prompted civil service chief Gus O'Donnell and others to try to spell out the role various political leaders would play if there is no clear election winner.
Treasury officials have met with Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats' economic counselor, about how his party would approach a coalition with either the Conservatives or Labour.
