After some deliberation and many jokes, I was informed by a few friends and an email from my brother, Eddy, that I was indeed allowed to vote in the election for British parliament. Turns out non-citizens but members of the commonwealth (including Canadians and Indians) get to vote, and that’s me! Upon hearing this news, what did I do? Well, I voted, of course!

All right, if I look a little over excited in this picture it’s only because my photographer was embarrassed by me and was overzealous with the shutter finger because he was anxious to leave. Regardless of my facial expression, I enjoyed being able to vote (as I always do). It was cool to feel like I was actually part of the community, and not just someone who’s just hanging around on the outside for a while.

Election night in England was pretty cool. There were several TV programs available to watch the results roll in, and unlike in Canada, the UK is only dealing with one time zone; so, while the results still aren’t in until the middle of the night, at least it’s the middle of the night for everyone. The selection of TV coverage was pretty neat, too. There was an “alternative election coverage” option, which included commentary from celebrity comedians, interspersed with a few non-election related filler shows. It was definitely a fun and different way to await the results. Very different from Canada’s CBC or CTV options – what’s wrong with a little comedy, really?

As I am sure  many of you already know, the results had the next morning’s papers blazoned with “hung parliament” headlines; the beginning to a long journey to parliament. This year marked the first time ever that Britain had live television debates, which was awesome because it let the top 3 parties speak, including the Liberal Democrats (LibDem) and not just the Labour and Conservative parties, which have been the two major parties in the past. Unfortunately, after all the votes were in, no one party got enough votes to be the successful winner. For you see, to pass anything in the parliament you must get the votes of half plus 1 of the 650 seats available (meaning 326) to agree, and with David Cameron of the Conservatives receiving the most seats at only 306, it is unlikely that anything productive will happen with the Labour in 287 seats and the LibDems with the remaining 57.

Well, tonight, the current Prime Minister Gordon Brown (of the Labour party) has “quit” as the big boss and David Cameron has stepped in to become the new man in charge, well, as in charge as his 306 seats can get him. I’m sure the news will be buzzing with election reports for a while to come. If anything exciting happens, I might just let you know.

UPDATE: Cameron and Clegg have entered into a coalition government, combining their Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties. Should be interesting.