I am staying up for news of the "historic" (it's always historic) UK elections. It's now starting to get light.
However, from what I hear – no overall majority, people being denied their vote and huge queues outside polling station – it hardly seems like this is a British election.
I think the event of the night so far that has received the least hype is that a Northern Irish count has had to be suspended due to a bomb threat from an abandoned car in the car park. Apparently a very blasé event compared David Cameron's Jag leaving his home.
What has shocked me the most about this election is the X factor style media frenzy, to coin a phrase, that has totally monopolised the campaign, and even goes on to dominate the coverage of the results, with Bruce Forsythe talking about the colour of his tie and four-times married Joan Collins talking about values of a nuclear family, all from a celebrity boat party on the Thames.
This seems to be very similar to (modern-day!) Romanian politics. Celebrity status is definitely a bonus – the president's daughter Elena Băsescu, who goes by E-ba for her campaigns is a clear example of gloss over substance, and Gigi Becali, elected to the European Parliament last year, just for being a football manager and generally well-known to TV viewers.
What I really find amusing, though, is the way in which "props" are so important to the run-up to elections. I have never been offered a Labour Party emblemmed box of matches or a UKIP shell suit (not that I would wear it!), but in Romania party clothing and accessories are seen everywhere. Even the politicians themselves wear them.
Do you think Sam Cam would get the same press inches if she was in a Tory maternity smock?
And once the election is over, out in the country you can still see people proudly sporting a party anorak to protect them from the rain (I suspect not because of their political allegiance but rather due to the lack of affordable warm clothing available).
And he former fiancé of a famous Romanian, Lembit Opik, has lost his seat. "Touch my bum, This is life, la la la, we are the cheeky girls...."
UPDATE FROM BBC WEBSITE: 1219
Cheeky girls singer Gabriela Irimiaexpresses her sadness for former fiancé Lembit Opik, who has lost his Montgomeryshire seat to the Conservatives. She says of the Lib Dem: "The voters have lost a dedicated man who cared for his constituency and the people in it. It was his life."
