It’s been on everyone’s minds in the last month or so whether you like or not, but with expectation now riotous the climax to a fever pitched election campaign in the country and here in Winchester will be concluded in the early hours of Friday morning.

I can hardly remember a more exciting political movement. As a student journalist, this last five weeks I have been engrossed vividly watching political spats, campaigning crusades and the occasional slip of the tongue.

On a national level, a catalogue of unofficial polls has immersed the three main parties into a state of being an interchangeable statistic day in, day out.

Close to home, a storm is brewing as to who is on target to lay claim to the Winchester constituency seat.

The current Liberal Democrat stronghold, for around thirteen years appears to be too tight to call with Parliamentary candidates Liberal Democrat Martin Tod and Conservative Steve Brine going head to head respectively, with Patrick Davies Labour trailing in third position.

I will be at the final count held at the River Park Leisure Centre next Thursday and suffice to say it may be one of the closest calls in the history of this southern constituency.

Speaking of the south, and this past week I was assigned the task of previewing the Southampton Itchen constituency in correspondence to my course. After interviewing thus far, four out of the six candidates in the constituency, it has increased my interest in political journalism immensely.

This coming week, I’m looking forward to attending the University’s ‘Question Time’ esc election debate on Tuesday evening, editing countless hours of material, interviewing and getting to know a few more local people and maybe having the odd glass of orange juice or too before Thursdays final showdown.

For now at least, it is often a cherished memoir but the cliché ‘a week is a long time in politics’ should be just the tonic for local candidates urging them to make one final charge to excel themselves over the defining hurdle ahead of their adversaries in the coming week.