LONDON — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made a bid to stay in office after Britain's indecisive election, saying he is prepared to speak to any other party about forming an alliance.

Brown reached out to the Liberal Democrats today, saying he backed their call for electoral reform.

In a statement outside 10 Downing Street, Brown said there should be "immediate legislation" on reform.

Britain's Labour and Conservatives were jockeying for the support of smaller parties after the close-fought election that, for the first time in four decades, produced no outright winner.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg dented Brown's hopes of staying in power by calling on the Conservatives to try to form a government, without indicating whether his centrist party would be willing to join a coalition.

As sitting prime minister, Brown would traditionally be given the first chance to put together a government. His left-of-center Labour party is seen as a more natural coalition fit with the Lib Dems, the third-place party now thrust into the role of potential kingmaker. But Clegg said the party that had gained the most seats and the most votes — the Conservatives — should have "the first right to seek to govern."

"I think it is now for the Conservative Party to prove that it is capable of seeking to govern in the national interest," he said,

Despite winning the largest number of House of Commons seats in Thursday's election, David Cameron's Conservatives fell short of a majority that only a few months ago was considered inevitable. Labour was on track to lose nearly 90 seats in Parliament but still could govern with the help of the Liberal Democrats.

The biggest — and surprise — loser was Clegg, who failed to capitalize on his stellar TV debate performances.

Talks were expected between political players today but a definitive result could take days — or weeks.

A period of political wrangling and confusion in one of the world's largest economies could unsettle global markets already reeling from the Greek debt crisis and fears of wider debt contagion in Europe.

Polling stations around the country were overwhelmed by those interested in casting ballots in the most hotly contested election in a generation, but hundreds of people were blocked from voting due to problems with Britain's old-fashioned paper ballot system.