After staying awake for just over 24 hours on election day/night, I was still non the wiser as to how our country would look and operate for the next few years. In fact I could have stayed awake for six days straight and only just be having a vague idea of what might happen next. As I type David Cameron is just about to go to the Queen and ask if he can form a government. I would love the Queen to reply “Computer says No”.

As it was it looked more like the Queen’s response was “Oh no! Not you!”.

I’ll come back to the events of this evening shortly… but first lets hop in the Tardis and head back to Thursday 6th May 2010. Having already voted by post the real excitement of my day only really kicked in at 9pm (though I’d been keeping an eye on the BBC News live feed all day!). I started with Channel 4 Alternative Election Night, while playing BBC election games with my sister. One game involved taking turns to describe a politician (from the picture cards provided) and the other guessing who we were talking about. There was one I was stumped with. I recognised the name and the face but could not remember why I knew them. I racked my brains and in the end turned to Wikipedia. In the end I went with the clue “A party leader that no one can remember.” My sisters response was along the lines of “Oh yes, erm… him… Tory… nope can’t remember his name”. It was Iain Duncan Smith.

As soon as the first result was about to be announced I was straight over to the BBC. At 11.30pm I dragged myself away from my sister’s house so she could get enough sleep and have energy to organise small children in the morning. Not having such responsibilities  I returned home to take in a strange, interesting yet somewhat uneventful night. I switched between hope and dispair. I cheered for the results in my home town of Southport (John Pugh held his Lib Dem seat) and Brighton (Caroline Lucas gained the first Green Party seat). The time flew by as I’ve discovered can happen easily with BBC News 24 and I was entertained by others who saw the night through on Twitter. By 7am, having stayed up through the night (without the aide of caffeine!) I managed to pull myself out of my election trance to get a few hours sleep.

There is no doubt that since Friday there has been vocal core on Twitter and Facebook disappointed about the current options on the table. I believe that the result shows we do need electoral reform, we are not a two party country and we do need to reflect that by changing the way our government works. The way the people of the UK voted last week has shown that we don’t want a majority ruling, but in order to represent the views of the country we need the three main parties to work together. We cannot ignore that 10.7 million people voted a Conservative government, but we also can’t ignore the further 15.4 million that voted for Labour or Liberal Democrats. After everything that’s happened the past couple of years it speaks volumes that the Conservative party couldn’t win a majority of seats in these conditions. I hope if Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems decide to work with the Tories, which it looks like they are going to do, they do so in a way that makes no compromise on electoral reform. How this coalition works should be a foundation for future governments to work in future with a mix of parties, as they do in other countries. Take Back Parliament has been campaigning and protesting heavily this week and with continuing public pressure hopefully the debate is here to stay.

For all his faults and failures I do believe that Gordon Brown cares deeply about this country and that has been his motivation as Chancellor and Prime Minister rather than blatant personal ambition. Looking at the guys about to take over I have to say that even if I don’t always agree with Brown’s decision, they are a damn sight better than those that could be imposed in the coming weeks and months. Though I think it was inevitable, I am sad to see him go because the thought of David Cameron and George Osbourne in charge is scary, and it’s just about to get real.

While I don’t know what the short term holds for our country, nor do I know what it holds for me. Long term I really want to get involved in politics. I just don’t know where to start. I’m not sure I want to get into party politics straight away, but I’m not sure how else you can get involved. I’m sure I’ll make sure I find out one way or another in the not too distant future. If I’m not happy with what’s happening in this country then I should make an effort to be part of the challenge and the change.