An electoral close shave

Despite the fact that this is certain to be a very close run election it has to be said that the campaigning by the various contenders has been shall we say a little..boring? Frankly the decision to have set Parliaments with elections planned well in advance means that this Cayman started well before it needed to and has left the electorate somewhat unmoved.

Even the clear radical change on the ground in Scotland is not a result of the election campaign but the outcome of the referendum, which despite the apparent ascendancy of the SNP was actually lost by the nationalists and as yet they may hold the balance of power.

The rise of the SNP has clearly been at the expense of Labour and their leader Nicola Sturgeon has been the most inspiring of the leaders, even to those south of the border it would seem. At the other end of the spectrum the Greens who began the election on a high have lost support largely due to the incompetency of their "leader" Natalie Bennett who didn't seem to know what her party stood for and made some ludicrous comments about membership of terrorist organisations should not be illegal.

On top of this the Greens have talked about disbanding our armed forces despite the world becoming an ever more dangerous place. A subject which brings us back to the Scottish Nationalists who are demanding the scrapping of Britain's nuclear deterrent in return for their support.

Support this nation could do without.

In England the rise of UKIP has been at the expense of the Liberal Democrats who have ceased being the "party of protest" that disgruntled voters could turn to after Nick Cleggs sellouts over tut ion fees and electoral reform. Old Cleggy himself is also seemingly set to lose his seat in Sheffield Hallam.

Certainly there will be a lot of people watching the results on Thursday night/Friday morning who will hope he does.

As for controversy there's not been that much except the gregarious Galloway has been running a frantic campaign to hang on to his latest fiefdom in Bradford. And what an unsavoury  sight that has been as he appeals to the basest roots of conservative Islam in an attempt to undermine Miss Shah his Labour rival.

Frankly disgusting, but then the gorgeous one has his eyes set on London or perhaps Tower Hamlets as the downfall of his ally Lutfur Rahman has provided a possible opening for his brand of communalist politics.

The far left are running their "largest ever" intervention claiming that the self appointed Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition is the sixth largest party in the elections. The TUSC even got a party political broadcast which the comrades have patted themselves on the back for but has long been forgotten except by the inveterate "Trot spotters". They don't and won't even figure in the polls.

Then there's the main parties.Labour and the Conservatives have been running "neck to neck" in the polls and even though the Sunday Times seems to think Cameron will have the biggest party come Friday morning, that isn't for certain and a 1% lead is subject to error.

It's in the marginals where the election will be decided. How many seats will Labour take from the Tories and their allies the Lib Dems? Some polling has indicated a Labour lead in some of these key constituencies but the outcome for all is far from certain.

In the days to come short of an electoral earthquake (don't hold your breath) the election may end up being decided by a few thousand waverers and even some people actually voting that don't normally.

Trouble is there has been no inspiration.

My own vote is already allocated but will make no direct difference where I live as it's a very safe Tory seat, but vote I shall.

Those who don't vote cannot complain about the outcome.

And there will be one.

I just hope it's not five years of the same.