Over at the Financial Times, Lib Dem MEP Andrew Duff offers a European perspective on the UK’s general election – and finds the continent as gripped as the rest of us by Thursday’s national poll:

In Brussels and across Europe there has been a surge of interest in the British general election campaign. People had more or less accepted that David Cameron would form a Conservative government, probably with a large majority, but now the outcome looks far from certain. …

Yet the thing that has galvanised continental political interest is the exposure of the iniquity of British electoral procedure. That Mr Brown could come third in terms of the popular vote yet still retain the largest number of seats in the Commons, and return as prime minister, is thought to be scandalous. Indeed, if such a result were to be declared in any benighted east European country, MEPs would pass cross resolutions about corruption and the abuse of fundamental rights.

Whatever comes out in the wash after May 6, a change to a system of proportional representation in Britain, where seats won at Westminster broadly match votes cast in the country, is a precondition for the rehabilitation of Britain’s reputation as a democracy.

You can read the rest of Andrew’s article here.