In the run up to an election …..

We know that a General Election is coming in the UK. The current government is now in the last Parliamentary session before they must prorogue Parliament and send members back to their constituencies to seek re-election. The last date that the election can be held is June 2010 - that is the time when the 5 year maximum period runs out.

So, the Government must go to the country. The likelihood is that the election will be before the absolute last date, possibly on Thursday 6th May. This is the date already set-aside for district council elections in England so it would make sense for the General Election to be held on the same day.

Of course, the election may come sooner and The Crusher hears whispers that a date in March may already be in consideration.

The recent State Opening of Parliament (18th November) saw one of the shortest Queen’s Speech ever as plans for future legislation were cut back and cut back to the absolute minimum. Many expected measures were dropped in the rush to cut back to what the Govt. thought they might just be able to squeexe through before the election. Perhaps the headline piece was the Digital Economy Bill which has now received its Second Reading in the House of Lords. This rather contentious piece now passes to the committee stage which will not now take place until January. That is beginning to look mighty close to the election. The Crusher is minded to think that there may be very little of the contents of the Queen’s Speech that will actually make it all the way to the Statute Book.

But - as we now run up to the election, and the State Opening was perhaps the first and opening element of the election campaign, a look at something elsewhere in Europe. A General Election was held in Portugal on Sunday 26th September. Posters across the country exhorted the population to cast their vote. But one poster caught the eye of The Crusher - a large billboard alongside the main road leading to the airport just outside central Lisbon.

Now, clearly child protection is an issue in Portugal as it is here in the UK. Perhaps we are less likely to see campaigning here on this particular front. Translated, the poster reads:

“If you want to provide paedophiles with freedom, continue to vote as you would normally. For chemical castration of these criminals and to change Portugal, vote MMS.”

This particular party did not win the majority mandate - the election returned the previous centre-left government but with a reduced majority.

Somehow it seems unlikely that we will see this poster reproduced here in the run up to the General Election.