** Official MN Election Night Thread - let's hold hands and wait together **

[MmeLindt]

Just starting this so that we can all post our thoughts throughout the day.

My wish for today is that as many people as possible GO OUT AND VOTE.

I cannot vote as I have been living abroad for over 15 years so if anyone wants to vote for me, I would like to vote for Gordon Brown. Voting by MN proxy

I am soooooo excited and beyond nervous. I keep thinking no way will Tory get in after GBs scaremongering and Barry Scotts Nick Cleggs ... Nick Clegg-ness, but then surely no one will still want Labour in and who actually goes and votes Lib Dem?! I can see it being hung, I really can. I can't wait to go and vote but am waiting for DH to get home so I don't have to take the 2 DSs, but am getting impatient!

My mother spent two whole days sticking Buthelezi's face onto the bottom of the ballot papers

(what happened is that Buthelezi's party, the Inkatha freedom Party, decided at the last minute that they were going to join in on the election. All the ballot papers were printed in the UK to prevent them being interfered with, so there wasn't time to get them reprinted, so they had to make IFP stickers to shove on the bottom).

wow! Your mum must have got very fed up of them by the second day.

right, am off for a pre-election night nap

Sleep well, OYBK, sweet dreams (of the right person getting the keys to no.10)

Ok, have namechanged for the occasion, but not sure if name is ok. Will stick with it for now.

yes it's an odd combination..........would have just been cereal and voting if it hadn't been for an arse of an ex......

Anyhow - have voted.

Unusually, am not enjoying being an expat today. Like you MmeLindt - am disenfanchised as have not had permanent address in UK for over 15 yrs (still paying UK taxes though ... work in both countries) so feeling a bit and today

And yes, a bit with those who can vote, but choose not to ....

Have just discovered too that virtually every other EU member state except Britain allows its expat citizens to vote in their country of birth, however long they have lived abroad. In fact, I think Italy even has a "virtual constituency" for their overseas voters and everything is arranged through their Embassies ...

How unfair is that? Apparently TB put a stop to it because most overseas voters were thought to be of Liberal or Conservative persuasion.

Won't be staying up with you all [old lady emoticon] but will enjoy reading all the news here later on ....so thanks for the thread MmeLindt ....

Harrumph and all that

OOhhh! I'm excited (and a bit at myself) but . There was a nice sized queue when I went to vote, the sun is shining in Nth London. I'll be at the MN election night party tonight armed with sushi and wine

I've exercised my democratic muscle. Sadly in my constituency it's about as puny as my actual muscles! Does anyone else have that thing where as soon as you put the paper in the box you suddenly think, aargh! Did I put the cross in the right box, or have I accidently voted Tory[insert least fav party here]? I then have images of myself sabotaging the whole election by ripping open the box to find my ballot. (how would I know which one was mine?) ...I think I need my pre-election nap.

Good to see you Parliament, after our last conversation .

no queue when I voted - woman in the booth next to me having a long debate with the election officer person about why she wasn't allowed to read the names out for her elderly mother......she had already been offered a magnifying glass so she could see them properly.

Ah, I see you are suffering from election stress

I'm excited too!

I live in a tight Lib Dem/Plaid marginal so will be staying up to see the result.

My DC however are supporting their aunt, who is a Tory candidate in another constituency

definitely had an "oh shit what have I done" moment after I'd left having voted for a party that is never going to do me any favours..........but in the end it boiled to to local issues and I voted on that >>

Cartoose
Sushi and wine Election party? Hmm, can we make assumptions of your political allegiance based on your Election party food?

mind I made an arse of myself not once but twice

Got to first desk........gave my address.........then realised "oh shit I'm not reigstered there yet as I never got it sorted". So corrected myself and gave old address (same po0lling station for both addresses). We had a laugh about it though as she admitted when she moved house last year she forget to tell her work that she'd moved and only realised when she complained about her wage slips not arriving....

Anyhow, then got inside the hall to get my ballot paper and once again gave the wrong address (new one not old).

I'm sure they thought I was totally mad

Can you guess?

Oh, and on the subject of bringing the kids to vote, my brother & I were stopped from going into the polling booth with my mum because we were nagging asking her what she wanted to vote. A very stern election official told us it was a private ballot & we should wait outside the church hall until mum came out. Mum looked a bit taken aback but went & voted! We were probably 7/8 & 4/5. I don't suppose it would happen now but it taught me an interesting lesson about democracy!

yes I gave DS1 a little lecutre about asking NO QUESTIONS when we were inside about who I was voting for etc.

He made me laugh when we came out and were in town - as he said quietly "so did you vote for PB" - wouldn't even say his name

Can't be Labour, you would be having fish and chips or pie and mushy peas. Washed down with ale.

Definitely not BNP - none of that forrin muck.

Conservative - too fussy, more likely to be good plain British food

So I am going to go for Lib Dem, as I can see Nick Clegg in a sushi bar.

we're probably having baked potatoes for dinner and I shall be bringin Dr Pepper, coffee and fags to the party............what does that say about who I voted for ?

I quite fancy sitting next to NC in a sushi bar but ... nope, not Lib Dem.

Thanks Cartoose, . My election party is beer, tortillas & those pots of m&s mini cakes. What does that say about me ?

Hi Fowl - looking gooood in your new name [grins]. Ooops, completely forgot to update that post that we did all survive the night and there were no axe-men hiding under the bed.