Today is election day in the UK. Despite the fact that I’ve been asked “did you vote?” more than five times, I, as an immigrant, am not permitted to do so. But that didn’t stop me from begging all of my friends that could vote to choose whichever party would not revoke my visa and eject me and my fellow migrant laborers from their lovely country.
This election is predicted to be one of the closest in UK history. The Labour party, which has been in power for quite some time, is expected to narrowly lose to the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems), with their Nader-equivalent, always-in-third-place leader Nick Clegg, gained significant ground in the UK’s first ever televised debates. However, his party is still expected to come in third.
Aside from the predictions, the atmosphere in London leading up to the election has been one of frenzied campaigning. By “frenzied” I mean that there is the occasional house in Hampstead with a tiny “Conservatives” sticker in the window, the odd person on the street passively handing out pamphlets for the Labour party, and several demure signs showing voters where the nearest polling station is located.
One day there was even a bus parked on Hampstead High Street letting people know that there was an upcoming election. Of course this was done without actually interacting with anyone on a personal level. Ah, Blighty. I love the antithesis of the in-your-face, uber-earnest American election campaigns to which I’ve been accustomed all my life.
Speaking of campaigns, I felt a bit better about my disenfranchisement when I received an absentee ballot in the mail yesterday for the upcoming U.S. congressional elections. Happy to exercise my right to vote in at least one country, I opened the ballot, got out my pen, and learned that my only choices for U.S. representative were Nancy Pelosi and “Write-In”. I guess I don’t have much of a choice in who leads either of my countries!