British Election - today's the vote

Well, in what seems like an historic election, voters in the United Kingdom go to the polls today to elect a new government.  Polls indicate that the Conservatives have the lead in the popular vote, but that Labour may end up with a plurality in terms of seats with the Liberal-Democrats holding the balance of power.

The Institute for Policy Research in the UK published the results of a survey of "prospective parliamentary candidates" in winnable seats to ascertain how they would react to a "hung" parliament.

In the event of a hung parliament, a post-election deal between Labour and Liberal Democrats could be more politically sustainable than a deal between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, according to results from the survey.

And the Globe & Mail today comments on the level of policy debate during the British election versus Canadian general elections.

As voters in Britain queue at the polls today, Canadian political parties could stand to learn a great deal from the political campaign now ending. British politicians offered a higher quality of policy thinking than anything comparable in recent Canadian elections.

It has been a very interesting election in the UK and if the polls are correct, it should continue to be very interesting over the next few days as the party leaders deal with the fallout of the election.