Uncharted Territory

If election time wasn’t exciting enough, this election has the potential to be the most hotly contested election in recent memory. For the first time ever, the SNP are leading the opinion polls with less than two weeks until the election.

The Sunday Times published a poll today, 22nd April, showing the SNP a commanding 7% clear of Labour in both the constituency vote and the regional vote. The paper claims that Labour need, "a seismic turnaround in its fortunes to avoid defeat."

Campaigning on the basis of no extra powers for Holyrood, whilst 83% of Scottish people are opposed to the status quo, seems like a spectacular own goal on the part of the Labour Party. This is compounded by parading Gordon Brown and Tony Blair around promoting Labour’s agenda. Who still thinks those two are electoral assets?

Tony Blair said recently that this election shouldn’t be about giving him a good kicking. That he would be gone soon. Well sorry to shatter your over inflated ego Mr Blair, but this election is not about you. It is more important than just being about you. The short term and possibly long term future direction of Scotland will be decided on May the third.

Will the decision be legitimate though, or is there a risk of the result being manufactured? Questions continue to remain unanswered about both the electronic counting system that is to be used on the night and the authenticity of postal votes. With the Herald reporting today that 20,000 voters in the Helensburgh area were issued with polling cards for West Dunbartonshire instead of Argyll and Bute, it hardly inspires confidence.

Some people that usually have their finger on the pulse are the bookies and they have installed the SNP as favourites to come out of the election with the most seats. If that were to happen, what would happen next? Would the Lib Dems drop their resistance to an independence referendum? Would the SNP drop their commitment to a referendum? Or would the SNP go it alone with a minority government?

So many questions that everyone has an opinion on. State yours at Our Scotland.