The election.

Well this years election has certainly been an interesting one. For most of us it has been the first opportunity that we have had to vote and that is a very exciting prospect. I have always been reasonably informed about politics and my mum and dad instilled in me from a very young age that it is so important that we take the opportunity given to us to vote.

When I heard that the political debates were going to be broadcast on television for the first time I thought that this was very interesting. I feel that Gordon Brown should be applauded for agreeing to do this. He is the first PM ever to agree and I think that it was a brave move. Despite not being the most charismatic or eloquent speaker I think he was confident in his policies and not afraid to shy away from discussing them.

I think that the debate its self was conducted in an okay fashion, I would have liked each candidate to be able to talk for longer than 60 seconds without being stopped but I suppose this is the case with any debate. In some respects it was a good idea to broadcast the debate because it really got people talking about the election. By placing it on three of the main channels it makes politics more accessible to people who don't normally read the news papers and may not have followed politics in the past. I think putting it on television also helps to appeal to the younger voters in the country.

However it worries me slightly that people watching the debate didn't actually pay very much attention to the content of what the party leaders were talking about, and instead seemed to be more impressed by the appearance of the politicians and the delivery of their speeches. It seems that putting the debate onto television may make the politicians seem more like celebrities, and so some members of the public may be more likely to vote for a candidate in the election based on their appearance.

For me watching the debate really highlighted how fickle politicians can be. Nick Clegg seemed to try and win votes based on the fact that he is not labor or tory, he is not an old party, and he is different than Brown and Cameron so people should vote for him. He seemed to be playing off the other candidates against each other, although his delivery of his speeches were very effective. Despite the fact that Clegg did not beat Tory or Labor I think the political debate served him well. It really gave him a chance to get his face and reputation out their and for three nights at least placed him on a level playing field with the two other parties.

I know some people feel that smaller parties should have been allowed to participate in the debate, however I feel that it may have over complicated the process and not given all the candidates a chance to really get across their policies. And talking realistically Lib Dem, Labor and Conservative were the only three parties who had a chance of getting into power. Maybe another debate should have been conducted featuring smaller parties and simply allowing them to get their policies across.

Overall I have found the election really interesting, I think in the future we may go in the direction of the USA. Getting more celebrities involved in the campaign and using the internet, youtube and music videos as a source for getting publiciy and getting even more young people involved and making it 'cool' to vote, just as america has done.

I have to say that i am disappointed by the results of the election. Although it was unlikely I had hoped that Labor would have won the election. Instead we are finding ourselves having to deal with the issues of a hung parliament. It will be interesting to see where we go from here and what the shape of the country will be like in a couple of years from now. Although I dont feel that Brown has done anything to justify having to resign I wonder if this would be best for the image of the party. Labor might become more successful if they had a new leader with a strong image, and someone who doesn't carry with the blame of the issues facing the UK over the past year or so.