Roundup: Queen kick-starts race to 10 Downing Street as British Parliament dissolved

British Queen Elizabeth II dissolved Parliament Monday, triggering an age-old electoral process that allows virtually anybody to bid for a seat in the British House of Commons and beginning what should prove to be an exciting election campaign.

For a modest fee of 500 pounds (about 743 U.S. dollars) any citizen of Britain or the Irish Republic can stand for election. Five years ago, around 4,200 candidates stood for election. On April 9, the doors close on nominations from people wanting to stand.

Most commentators will eagerly be charting the fortunes, or misfortunes of the big-three parties, Conservatives, Labor and the Liberal Democrats. Even the wisest of pundits are reluctant to gamble on the outcome on election day, May 7.

New kids on the political block, UKIP, or the United Kingdom Independence Party, will cause upsets across the country. Initially starting out as an anti-European Union Party vowing to organize a divorce between Great Britain and the EU, UKIP has enjoyed a rapid rise in popularity. Many voters intend to back UKIP, citing the lack of action by the main parties on immigration into Britain.

Hundreds of thousands of people have flooded into Great Britain since the EU granted membership to Eastern European countries. Under EU rules, citizens of Europe have free access to all member states, including Great Britain. Many Britons, particularly in areas where job vacancies are scarce, blame immigrants for taking jobs at lower wages.

Whether true or false, feelings about rising immigration are running high with UKIP seen as a party that will control, if not slam the door, on high immigration.

Meanwhile, Labor is predicted to lose ground in Scotland to the Scottish National Party which has enjoyed its biggest ever surge in support in the wake of the Scottish Independence Referendum.

The future of the British National Health Service (NHS) will be a major battleground, with all parties vowing to protect what is regarded as a cherished institution, free health care at the point of need. The Conservatives have been accused of paving the way for more of the NHS to be privatized, with claims that major U.S. health providers are already circling over Britain like vultures ready to swoop.

In Britain's House of Commons there are 650 MPs, representing constituencies in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. A party needs to win at least 326 seats to have an overall majority.

In 2010, for the first time since 1974, no party crossed the 326-seat threshold, creating a hung parliament. The Conservatives won most seats, but their tally of 306 - 96 more than they won in 2005 - fell 20 seats short. Labor ended up with 258 seats - 91 fewer than the 349 which gave them an overall majority in 2005. The political horse trading led to the Conservatives forming a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats who won 57 seats.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who became Deputy Prime Minister in 2010, broke a pledge to oppose raised student tuition fees, sparking student protests and leading to his party being virtually wiped out in many local councils.

The election on May 7 will give the British public the chance to show Clegg whether or not he has been forgiven. If the pollsters are correct, it seems the public is still not in a forgiving mood.

Looking forward, it seems the upcoming election will be the most unpredictable and fascinating one in Britain in living memory. Endit