In the United Kingdom people will vote, including myself, in the 2010 election, its going to be a close run election between the three main parties, Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats. The right to vote (or suffrage) went through many stages, in universal suffrage the right to vote is not restricted by race, gender, belief, wealth or social status, the first country to use this was France in 1792, although women were not allowed to vote until 1944.
In the first modern democracies the vote was restricted to those having adequate property and wealth, which meant a miniority of the male population.Eventually in modern democracies the number of people who could vote increased in time, the 19th century featured movements advocating universal suffrage, the democratic movement of the late 19th century unified liberals and social democrats, particularly in nothern europe, using the slogan equal and common suffrage.
Women were finally granted the vote in 1928, with the representation of the people act, with women such as Emmeline Pankhurst playing an important part. Many other acts such as the representation of people act 1969,which enabled those to vote 18 and older were passed and today voting is an important part of the democratic process. So with all the struggles in the past to get the right to vote, its a shame that many do not participate in this process. I will be voting on the 6th of May, with the knowledge that every vote counts.