an interview with BBC radio.
“People know with me that in 2010, we didn’t win a majority, I put the country first, I formed the first coalition government for 70 years because I wanted to provide strong and stable government for Britain,” he said.
“I will always put the country first and do what I can do to provide a strong and stable government.”
His Conservatives look well placed to team up again with Clegg’s Liberal Democrats, assuming the Liberal Democrat leader can hold on to his own seat in Sheffield, northern England.
While Miliband has ruled out a formal deal with the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), it is thought they could still prop up a minority Labour government on a vote by vote basis.
He told the BBC he was “not countenancing defeat” in the election. “I’m optimistic but it will be in the hands of the people come tomorrow,” he added.
The Liberal Democrats have left open the possibility of backing either the Conservatives or Labour while the SNP will block the Conservatives, and the anti-EU UK Independence Party is unlikely to win more than a handful of seats.
Only one thing is certain — the SNP is likely to make major gains and take most of the seats in Scotland at Labour’s expense, transforming Britain’s political scene and potentially bringing the prospect of Scottish independence closer.
Negotiations to form a government are likely to be complicated. The first big test for the new government will come when parliament votes on its legislative programme following the Queen’s Speech on May 27 in a de facto confidence motion.
Polls open at 0600 GMT and close at 2100 GMT on Thursday. Exit polls are published immediately after that followed by the first results shortly afterwards and final results Friday afternoon.
Britons will cast their ballots in around 50,000 polling stations around the country, including in unusual places like pubs, caravans and garages.
The first ballot boxes were already being delivered to remote parts of Britain, including Rathlin Island off the northeast coast of Northern Ireland.