Gordon Brown's trip to the Queen to dissolve Parliament has kicked off Britain's general election season. We'll be following events closely here and on the home page. Be sure to check out the RCP British Election averages for the horse-race.
The BBC gives us the lay of the land:
To secure an overall majority, a party must win at least 326 seats. If no party succeeds in doing so, the result will be a hung Parliament.After 13 years in power, Labour enters the election with a notional majority of 48 seats, meaning that a loss of 24 seats would see them lose their overall majority.
Whatever the result, the make-up of the House of Commons will change significantly following the election, with 144 MPs so far having announced that they will stand down.
Parliament will not be officially dissolved until Monday 12 April - MPs will spend this week getting remaining legislation, that the parties can agree on, through Parliament - a process known as the "wash-up".
(AP Photo)
