UK Hung Parliament: a bit like sex, really

Nobody can know how much influence Lord Mandelson´s pre-election quip had on potential Liberal Democrat voters who did not want Etoryinans in power.

“if you flirt with Nick Clegg in these crucial Labour-Tory marginals, then you’re likely to wake up the next morning with David Cameron” he said.
“And let me assure you, that is a night you would come to regret. You would wake up thinking something had gone horribly wrong in your life.”

However, Nick seemed not to have paid heed and said he fancied David a bit more. The resulting political speed-dating made it clear that Gordon can not now qualify for the grand finale of  “Date or dump: who rules?”. If Nick is indeed “being wooed” by both parties as CNN report, then New Labour has offered to sweeten the morning after by removing Brown´s face from the pillow.

David Miliband, go on down!

Imagining Electoral Reform

I start a six-day trek to the Tayrona (or Kogi) culture´s “lost city” here in north Colombia today, which means returning when the results of the UK General Election are finally decided. Or rather, when the results of the 150 or so marginal seats are decided. The outcome in each of the other 500 constituencies is already a foregone conclusion.

The introduction of TV debates seems to have been the main catalyst for the increased popularity of Nick Clegg and hence the party he leads, the Liberal Democrats. This in turn means that a hung parliament is being discussed as a real possibility. Pessimistic in this regard, I fear that the Etoryians will get a working majority and see out a term (low expectations means anything else will be doubly delicious).

Despite the apparently increasing willingness of the electorate to use tactical voting to be more effective in our first-past-the-post system, I do not believe 2010 will be a watershed. Nevertheless, I am hoping the system will come close enough to breaking point in its disproportional representation of the defeated parties that binding promises will be made by politicians heeding the anger of disenfranchised voters. 

You may say I´m a dreamer, but I´m not the only one.