Whilst I have no doubt that, should you want to, all of you can hold your own in a debate about our local politics and the nuances thereof, but there is a possibility that you need a quick brush up on the goings on abroad . Our friends on the Mud Island go to the polls today and so I thought it might be helpful to you, to give you a quick run down of what is happening in the elections.
British democracy is a bit of a funny concept really. For starters, it isn’t quite a democracy…what with that whole royal family vibe hanging around in the background. So the term they actually use for British form of government is a constitutional monarchy. This means that the country is run by the parliament in the form of the prime minister and cabinet, with the queen serving as head of state.
It has been more than 5 years since a general election has been held in the UK and in the run up to these elections, the UK has been hot with election fever – kissing babies, making babies, the party leaders are going all out to win voter support.Voting takes place today between 7:00am and 10:00pm…no public holiday declared for this activity though! (I think I prefer the African approach to elections with regards to the holiday declaration!)
There are a number of political parties in Britain, but the 3 major ones are Labour, Conservative (Tories) and Liberal Democrats.
Labour has had a history of representing the working classes; Conservatives, the wealthy and middle classes, while the Liberal Democrats have tended to attract independent and more liberal-minded voters from all sections of the community. But with evolving society and the impact of technology having blurred the edges between the parties so much, this isn’t quite as clear as it used to be.
A couple of notable points on the UK Election:
- An election can be called at any time by the Prime Minister. The PM asks the Queen to formally dissolve Parliament, which she always does. Then the official horse race begins. First past the post wins!
- You must at least pretend to love small children. Conservative (“Tory”) leader David Cameron has really kicked the competition up a notch this year by actually getting his wife pregnant in time for an election season announcement. Visits to schools abound. All the candidates have cute small children.
- There is a serious contender third party. Sort of. The Liberal Democrats! The third man – Nick Clegg – in the race that could make or break the fortunes of the two more popular parties. Or have absolutely no influence. The excitement of the British system never ends.
- It would appear that you must wear the color tie of your party. This is not dissimilar to the US mode of operation, but being Brits, Labour and party leader/ Prime Minister Gordon Brown is allowed to wear various shades of pink. We like pink…
So, there you have it…watch the press for details over the next few days!
