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[garbitsch]

I voted for Lib Dems. Do I regret? To be honest, I dunno

[cannedmoose]

Same here, voted for in both parliamentary and council elections today...

Best of a bad bunch to be honest... I was hoping to see a Monster Raving Loony or Church of the Militant Elvis Party candidate (see links below), but alas, only Tory, Labour, Lib Dem or (spit!) Veritas...

http://www.theplace4.co.uk/elvisseeninbaghdad/index.htm
http://www.omrlp.com/

Keep an eye out tonight for Boney Maroney standing against Tony Blair and Lord Toby Jug standing against Michael Howard. Unfortunately, Lord Bucket Head isn't standing this time around...

[cannedmoose]

Only 3 hours left to vote folks... if you haven't voted get your skates on. If you think none of them are worth voting for, don't just abstain, get down there and say so on the ballot paper. If you don't vote, you have no right to complain if you don't like the outcome...

[garbitsch]

Council elections?? Could you inform me about it a bit pls?

[cannedmoose]

In some counties today, it's time to elect local councillors as well as the general election.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/ ... 513891.stm

[cannedmoose]

Labour Party just passed the 324 seat threshold... 5 more years of Labour folks...

But with a reduced majority, it looks likely that Blair will go sooner rather than later, probably within the next couple of years.

It also looks like Labour will have the smallest overall share of the vote of any winning party in modern history. Hardly a ringing endorsement of Blair's premiership.

Full update when I wake up later today...

[magikthrill]

If there are 5 more years of Labour how will Blair go out before those 5years?

[cannedmoose]

With a predicted final majority of just 66 votes, it would take 33 rebels within his own party to make Blair's life difficult, i.e. in pushing legislation through Parliament. Blair has always had thumping majorities with which to pursue his plans, he now has to accommodate both wings of his party, which has been heavily divided on certain issues in the last couple of years. He now has to mediate between these in order to get the legislation he wants passed through the House of Commons.

The commentators here are saying that it's likely that Blair will begin the transition to new leadership of the Labour Party within the next 18 months to 2 years, most likely to the Chancellor Gordon Brown. In the British system, the Prime Minister is simply one member of the party in government. It is therefore in the power of that party to change their leader at any time and thus replace the sitting Prime Minister. This would not require a new election. It happened when the Conservatives replaced Margaret Thatcher as party leader in 1990 and John Major took over as both party leader and Prime Minister.

We've already seen the Tory leader Michael Howard announce that he is going to stand down as Conservative leader in the near future. I think within the next year or so, we'll see Blair repositioning himself to do likewise.

[cannedmoose]

May 6th, 2005

Election results update:

As of 1530BST, with only one result in from Northern Ireland thus far (Northern Irish results are not counted during the night of the election) the results in the UK General Election were as follows:

Labour 36.2%
Conservative 33.2%
Liberal Democrat 22.6%
Others 8%

In terms of seats, by the first-past-the-post UK system, these results translate to:

Labour 355 (-47)
Conservative 197 (+33)
Liberal Democrat 62 (+11)
Others 13 (+3)

The overall swing of the vote from Labour to Conservative stands at 3.2%, but this masks the real story of this election which was the tactical vote switching in many constituencies. There was also a general trend in voting in the safe Labour seats of disaffected Labour supporters giving their vote to the Liberal Democrats, with swings from Labour to Lib Dem of over 10% in some areas.

Prediction remains that Labour will have an overall majority of 66 in the House of Commons.

[cannedmoose]

May 7th, 2005

FINAL RESULT (pending result in one seat in Staffordshire, where a candidate died prior to the election, election in this seat will be held next month)

Labour 356 seats, down 47 from 2001 (35.2% of vote)
Conservative 197 seats, up 33 from 2001 (32.3% of vote)
Liberal Democrats 62 seats, up 11 from 2001 (22% of vote)
Others 30 seats, up 3 from 2001 (10.5% of vote)

Labour majority of 67 seats.

Turnout 61.3% (+2% on 2001)