United Kingdom General Election

Well, its come time again that after 5 years we have to go and vote in the next parliament and decide which direction we would like the country to go in.

What makes this election interesting is just how close the polls have it. It doesn't look like anyone is going to be forming a majority government, so we get to have weeks of wheeler-dealing between the parties to work out who will work with who and generally stuff over half the electorate who then get to complain that who ever is in charge is not who they voted for.

Regardless, it looks as though we are going to have at least a half dozen parties all with constituency seats and an interest in being in government. On the Right: the Tories and UKIP, on the Left: Labour, SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens, with the Lib Dems occupying a nebulous centre ground.

It's also been one of the nastiest and bad tempered nationalistic campaigns fought by all sides, with gaffes and expletives aplenty which could fill out an entire series of "The Thick of It", let alone an episode.

Looks like this one is going to be worth staying up to watch the results come in.

As an Anglophile and political junkie, I've been following the campaign pretty closely and will be interested to see what happens. I suspect that Labour will be able to cobble together a center-left coalition, but I doubt it will have five years' staying power.

For a more cynical view, here's CNN's Anthony King on who really governs Britain: http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/01/opinio...ing/index.html

I am shamefully ignorant of current UK politics. I'm lucky to have seen Canada had a big upset in North Texas Alberta.

Well, the only certainty about this election has been the level of uncertainty it has generated.

We're not really used to this level of confusion and perhaps and maybes going on. We used to prefer one party or the other to govern, but it looks like we are going to get another coalition. Personally, I'd be happy with another 5 years of the current Lib/Con coalition which hasn't done that badly. I think most people are fearing a Labour/SNP arrangement of some description.

All the polls are been neck and neck and have been for the last few weeks. This is likely to come down to say 50 or so marginal seats where the balance could swing either way.

I am generally pro-Labour, but suspect that another five years of Cameron would be better for the British economy, defense and unity (keeping Scotland part of the UK). If I were a British voter I just might vote Tory today, depending on the merits of my local MP candidates.

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Originally posted by What Exit?

I am shamefully ignorant of current UK politics....

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Here's a pretty good summary from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...neral-election

It's a little on the biased side, but it's a reasonably good explanation.

Well, if anyone can say how this is going to turn out they are lying. The weather has been good and the turnout has been higher than usual - 75% or so. I've voted earlier on, so all I can do now is sit and wait to see what unfolds.

Given everything I would expect at least some surprises overnight, so I'll be up to watch this one.

This really does appear to be one for the generation, pretty much the end of two party politics and the rise of the smaller parties. Country is going to look like a patchwork quilt by the time its finished.

I certainly fear anything being affected by UKIP--to the point where they'd truly need to be pandered to (c.f. the Tea Party here in the U.S.). I agree another Cameron-led coalition wouldn't be terrible; IMHO he certainly wasn't any worse than Tony Blair, which is shameful on Blair's part, although then again, Blair seemed determined to bow and tug his forelock to the U.S. leader at the time.

Good to hear that the weather's clear. Should make an exhilarating nailbiter if things remain as close as they are.

Just digested that 75% turnout estimate! Oh, that puts Americans to great shame. We're lucky if we can eke out 50%.

Well that was unexpected.

No seriously, anyone who was predicting a Conservative majority, which we may well get, would have been laughed at. At the most they were possibly the larger party but there was expected to be a lot of horsetrading in terms of coalitions and so on. Instead, we get a stable government from the start.

The exit poll was a shock last night because it was so different to the polls which had Miliband in pole position to form the next government. However, it has shopwn to be accurate and indeed slightly underestimated the level of Conservative support. The pollsters are going to a kicking after this. Next thing is to expect two resignations, from Ed Milliband and Nick Clegg for just how badly the populace turned against them.

Having stayed up to watch bits of it, it was actually quite fascinating watching all these results come in and it being shown just how things changed overnight, from watching possible ministers of state being out of a job to some of the denial, spin and then acceptance of the night.

PS: When it comes to UKIP, every part of the UK press hates them, so you only ever hear the bad things. This is despite the fact that every other party has the same skeletons in their closet. They are a lot saner than the tea party ever was.

Quite the surprise ending wasn't it? Any indication of what caused it?

Milliband had resigned by this morning my time. (East Coast US)

A decisive Tory win! Wow, never saw that coming. I am all amazement.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/08/europe...ion/index.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/election-2015-32659720
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...in-second-term

Nigel Farage, UKIP's leader, lost in his parliamentary race and has also resigned as party chief.

Farage resigning was expected, now Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg both resigning is real news and was not expected only a couple of days ago.

Cameron is pretty much on his own.

Cameron ran off like the scoundrel he is. May sat on every fence she could find, she left after achieving absolutely nothing. So who is she replaced with? Boris Johnson, of course. What an absolute shitshow. Licking ice cream while Belfast heated up, threatening a hard earned peace and the historic GFA. He's no shortage of apologists, either. Madness.