A general election is a very special event. We might complaint about politicians and Britain’s unfair voting system, but I’m still humbled to have the chance to help decide who governs our country. Too many people in too many countries have no such right, or are intimidated if they dare vote for the ‘wrong’ candidate or party.

We voted in Chalfont St Giles’ village hall, which was built as a memorial to those who lost their lives during the Great War. What a striking reminder that we should never take freedom, and the right to vote, for granted.

What will be the iconic images of election night 2010? Will there be a ‘Portillo moment’?

Looking back over elections past, I remember talking to Conservative health minister Gerry Malone at a party during the 1997 campaign. He described the pleasure of campaigning in and around Winchester. “I drive from one end of my beautiful constituency to the other, passing through lovely villages.” I thought at the time it was a tad complacent, and so it proved. Malone lost by two votes to the Liberal Democrats’ Mark Oaten. (And was defeated by a far heavier margin when the Winchester election had to be re-run a few months later.)

It’s a century since the two general elections of 1910 paved the way to a modern democracy. Within 18 years women finally secured equal voting rights. Let’s hope tonight’s results help secure the final step: a fair voting system. In the meantime, let’s celebrate the greatest of civic rights: the right to vote.