n4ku wrote: 
arrg!

 MrsHobieJoe wrote: 
Pirate Party UK

 n4ku wrote: 

We've got a Pirate party this year I think!

Simon Drew (the artist who designed Ali's apron) is standing as an independent here.

 MrsHobieJoe wrote: 
Please keep us informed on how the Monster Raving Loony Party does, will you?

They've got the swingometer out.  ....8.2% lab to con

First result in Sunderland any minute.  It'll be Labour.

and it's labour. 

LD 5292
Lab 19137
Con 8147

 MrsHobieJoe wrote: 
Scandalous!

 jagdriver wrote: 

This is the land of Carry On films and Benny Hill.  Edit- Jeremy Paxman just asked the LibDem spokesman if he'd get into bed with labour.

 hobiejoe wrote: 
Short seats? Hung parliament?

 hobiejoe wrote: 

I agree- that looks low for the libdems and high for labour- we will see.

Exit poll gives:
 

"Conservatives: 307 seats

Labour: 255

Lib Dems: 59

Others: 29

There would be a hung parliament, with the Tories 19 seats short of a majority."

 

Can't be right - LD's actually losing seats cf '05?

It's gone 10pm.  The polls are now closed.  People on telly running around with ballot boxes to see which constituency will be first to declare.

The first declaration (ie 45,000 odd votes all manually counted and formally declared by the returning officer) is planned for 10:43 pm!

 MrsHobieJoe wrote: 
Might be uncomfortable for a hung parliamentarian....

 jagdriver wrote: 
Uhuh.  The headlines in the tabloids will no doubt be extremely creative. 

 heeb wrote: 
Hey!

A hung parliament?  

This from the country that brought to you the Profumo scandal and inspired Austin Powers?

Hey all of you!

Long time since I posted on RP... I am still alive!!!

Anyway, I am Dutch, living in the UK now, and had a funny experience this evening:

As some of you might remember, my wife is Nigerian. She received *two* voting cards, some time ago, whereas I received *one*. I thought it was a simple mistake. Turns out it wasn't:

I, because I am a European citizen (Dutch), am allowed to vote in the *local* elections. Cool. I did.

My wife, because she is living here with me, is allowed to vote in the *local* elections, just like I am. Cool too. She did.Here's the joke:

I asked the lady at the polling station why I received just the one card, whereas my wife received two. It turns out that my wife (Nigerian) is allowed to vote in the national elections as well, *because Nigeria is Common Wealth*, whereas I am not, because the Netherlands is, of course, not Common Wealth.

So, *finally*, for the first time in our lives, we encountered a situation where my black African wife had *more rights* than I did, a white, European citizen!!!

We thought that was rather funny.

Finally, past colonisation pays off ;-)

Reversal of discrimination ;-)

Anyway, we both voted, I one time, my wife two times.

RP, I still love you!!!

 maryte wrote: 

 

 MrsHobieJoe wrote: 

We bought a bottle last night after your mention here.  We'll toast with a G&T tonight to a successful election day across the pond (and I'm excited that we found a HFCS-free tonic to mix it with)!

 rosedraws wrote:

 

Paper ballots and a pencil.  Cross or tick (clear indication anyhow) next to the one you want, fold the paper, stick it in the ballot box.

Just remember this isn't a presidential election- it's an election to the House of Commons and that might help.  We have first past the post elections that are similar to yours in some ways.  The most votes in any constituency wins the seat.  650 constituencies.  If a party gets 326 seats they win as they can effectively push their policies through parliament (assuming all of their representatives stay on the party road).  Usually one of the parties gets a majority.  The Conservatives (Tories) are the most likely to do that this time.  The leader of their party would then be asked to form the government by the queen and he (David Cameron) becomes prime minister.

The argument about gridlock doesn't hold here normally.  One would hope that if we get a hung parliament (which hasn't happened for decades) we'll move towards consensus politics which is what they have elsewhere in Europe.