This 2010 General Election has some historic novelties. For the first time ever in British history there was a live television debate between leaders of the three political parties. On Thursday night (April 15), the first TV debate between the three party leaders – Gordon Brown of Labour Party, David Cameron of Conservatives Party and Nick Clegg of Liberal Democrat Party – was watched by 10 million viewers across Britain. Around a quarter of British viewers watched the 90-minute ITV special and snap polls declared that Mr. Clegg's performance was regarded as the best by the public. Secondly, this is for the first time that three candidates who have never run for prime minister before are contesting in the elections. The third novelty is that during this election Internet – blogs, Facebook, Twitter and online newspapers – is playing a major role in the campaign. Commentators and bloggers continue to debate the role the web would play on the polls amid suggestions of an “Internet election”. With communications undergoing a dramatic transformation with the growth of the Internet, political parties have attempted to reach out to the millions who are online. This sense of novelty is compounded by a string of innovations. For the first time there may be a hung Parliament, with no party winning an overall majority. Opinion polls suggest that no single party will secure an overall majority in the General Election and that Britain will have its first post-election hung parliament since 1974. The election is thus Britain's first in almost 20 years with an unpredictable outcome, and the first in almost 40 years that might not produce a majority. Most analysts believe the Conservatives would need a 10-point lead to win a majority. Brown reportedly plans to continue governing even if Labour wins fewer seats than the Tories, as long as non-Tory seats add up to 50 percent. A minority government, known as a “hung parliament” in Britain, is a likely possibility. Whitehall is preparing the way for such a parliament. Behind this uniqueness and innovation, there will be some new records after the General Election. Whichever party wins this election will create a record. The 2010 General Election might create a record if Labour Party wins. Labour has been in power for 13 years already. If Labour Party under Gordon Brown's leadership wins this election, then it would be the fourth continuous victory which has not happened in British history. Secondly, the opinion polls and electoral system tell us an outright David Cameron victory is far from certain. Now if the Tory Party wins the election then its leader David Cameron would be the Prime Minister. In that case, he would be the youngest Prime Minister after Lord Liverpool in 1827. Thirdly, the Liberal Party was never in power since the First World War. After merging with the Social Democratic Labour Party in the 80s, it became the Liberal Democrat party, but it still could not manage an electoral victory. The present leader of the Liberal Democrat Party is optimistic about 2010 elections. If Liberal Democrat Party wins this election then that will also create a record. In the last General Election in 2005, Labour won 355 seats, Conservatives won 198, and Liberal Democrats 62. Fifteen MPs were elected at the 2005 General Elections from an ethnic minority background – four were from the Muslim community. Some 61.4 percentage of voters turned out at the 2005 election. The figure was up from the 59.5 percent who voted in 2001, but down drastically from 1997, the year Labour returned to power, when 71.4 percent turned out to vote. To vote or not to vote When there will be novelty, innovations and uniqueness in British history, a very tiny minority of anti-voting brigade of Muslims, like the last General Election in 2005, is telling Muslims not to vote. They distribute anti-vote leaflets after Friday prayers near mosques. It must be pointed out that achievements such as the first Muslim, Mohammad Sarwar, elected to the parliament in 1997, the first Muslim Peer, Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham, appointed to the House of Lords in 1998, the first Muslim Baroness, Lady Manzila Pola Uddin, appointed the House of Lords in 1998, the first Muslim Privy Councillor, Sadiq Khan, appointed in 2009 who was promoted to sit in the Cabinet in 2009 was only possible with Muslim participation in the voting system. All the above mentioned leaders were members of the Labour Party. Labour Party opened the doors followed by the Conservatives and then the Liberal Democrats. There was no MP from the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons but there was Baroness Warsi from the Conservatives and Lord Hameed from the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. We are expecting Muslim MPs from the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in the 2010 Elections. Muslims live in Britain as citizens and it is their civic and Islamic responsibility to cast votes and participate in the political process. Islamic scholars and Muslim leaders in Britain and around the world have permitted Muslims to participate in the political process of countries where they reside. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, 59, requested Queen Elizabeth on April 6 to dissolve Parliament in preparation for a May 6 vote – the final step before the start of the campaign. Queen Elizabeth declared the end of the Parliament. The three main political parties have already revealed their election manifestoes.
