Election Day-Part II

Well, I thought when I blogged about Election Day the other day, that by now, we'd know who the new PM would be.

Wrong.

As I mentioned, there was a good chance of a hung parliment, and that is indeed what has happened.  No one party took enough votes to claim a majority and assume leadership.  The Conservatives (David Cameron's group) got the most votes (dang.  that man is a tool), and Labour (Gordon Brown, the incumbent PM) got the 2nd most.  Surprisingly the Lib Dems (Nick Clegg) came in 3rd place, though the polls leading up to the day showed a completely differnt picture.

So, literally right now, Cameron & Clegg and their 'people' are trying to hammer out an agreement between the two parties so that the Conservaties/Cameron can presume the new role of PM.   If they're unable to do so, Brown will remain PM for the time being.  Even though-for the 2nd time, he wasn't actually voted in (or rather, his party wasn't voted in so he could claim the position).  Interesting stuff.

It's likely the coalition will be formed, so I imagine that in a bit, Cameron will be the new PM, and the UK Parliment will have figure out how to operate in this slightly different political environment than what we're coming from.

Should be interesting.  Watch this space..

Election Day

I've been horrible (or, rubbish as the Brits would say) about blogging lately.  New job and all that jazz.  I will get better-and update-it will just be a while.

But, today is a big, big, big day here in the UK and I wanted to get something down for posterity, if for no other reason.  I'll get all deep and philosophical about it later, but at the least wanted to mention that today is Election Day in the UK.  Citizens everywhere are voting for their candidates-or, really, their parties.

Unlike the US where you vote for the *person* you want to be President, here, leadership (ie the PM role) is granted to the leader of the party that gets the most votes.  Lib Dem, Labour, Conservative. Take your pick.  It's interesting-and, adding a twist to it this year is the fact that for the first time *ever*, nationally publicized debates between the leaders of the 3 major parties (Lib Demmer-Nick Clegg, Conservative-David Cameron, and Labour-Gordon Brown [the incumbent PM]) a la what happens in the US, has happened.  So, for the first time ever, voters are made to feel like they actually are voting for the person, not just the party.  Interesting stuff.

Polls don't close until 10pm, and ballots aren't counted until close, so we won't actually know until we wake up tomorrow as to who will be the new PM, but it'll be an interesting 24 hours.  Word on the street (ie polls) is that there will be no clear party winner-which means a hung Parliment.  Not good.  But, polls have been wrong before (remember, Dewey v Ike?..), so we'll just have to wait.

Watch this space! :)