The results of our forthcoming general election will be a dish for politicians, academics and the media to pick over, dissect and scrutinise.

Voter turnout will once again be at the heart of the debate. Will it exceed the 60 per cent turnout of previous years? Or will the legitimacy of the newly elected government be undermined by a poor show at the ballot box?

Voter apathy has been a recurring concern for political parties in the UK but some countries have taken the right to vote and turned it into a constitutional duty by introducing compulsory voting.

Dr Robin Pettitt, lecturer in comparative politics at Kingston University, explains: “Democracy is more legitimate if there is a certain level of turnout. If turnout drops below a certain level – then it’s a problem for democracy.”

“On the other hand the point of democracy is that people should be free. It doesn’t make sense if you force people to engage as free people in a democratic process.”

In countries like Australia and Belgium where voting is compulsory, turnout is typically above 90 per cent. Punishment for non-voters is usually a fine, which seems to be enough motivation to drive so many people to the polling station.

But perhaps unsurprisingly the number of blank or invalid votes counted in countries with compulsory voting is unusually high, suggesting some voters may be having the last laugh.

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) was set up in 1945 to collect electoral data across the globe to inform and support democratic reform.

Ola Pettersson, assistant programme officer at IDEA said: "If you look at the countries which have the highest voter turnout, it is fairly clear that compulsory voting increases participation in elections. People also tend to learn about politics when they are forced to vote, so it can be a civic education measure.

"The main drawback is how motivated are you to participate when you are being forced to do it rather than doing it on your own free will? Is voting a duty of every citizen or is it a privilege?"

Ultimately Petersson believes turnout numbers in most democracies are affected by more than whether people simply want to go and vote.

In many countries, security and conflict don’t stop on election days making a trip to the polling station a dangerous undertaking. Following Sri Lanka’s election in January, the state confirmed an average voter turnout of 70 per cent, which was almost on a level with previous elections. But in the northern city of Jaffna , turnout was only 20 per cent, and local authorities had reported a number of explosions in the days and hours before the election.

In Afghanistan similar events overshadowed the latest elections. Last year only 30 to 35 per cent of the electorate cast a vote, giving a shaky start to president Hamid Karzai’s second term in office.

Asmatullah Yoqhubi, a first year Kingston University journalism student left Afghanistan eight years ago. “In Afghanistan people were excited about being given the chance for the first time to go and vote but at the same time they know it is not going to work. My family took part in the elections. They don’t bother about security, they would go and vote in any circumstances. But they sort of know that because of corruption their vote is not going to count.”

The suspicion of corruption is also rife in countries closer to home, including Eastern Europe. A recent poll carried out in the run up to the January Ukraine elections found that 82 per cent of respondents expected vote rigging.

Pettersson describes “political distrust” as something which can undermine the confidence and will of voters to turn up at the ballot box. It becomes unimportant which party wins as in the eye of the people “all politicians are the same”.

In Italy, voter turnout has been the highest on average for the last fifty years, partly due to compulsory voting which was in place until 1993. Ilaria Favretto, professor in contemporary european history at Kingston University also believes that beyond this, Italians are driven to vote because the political parties are so polarised.

“For left and centre-left voters, Berlusconi and his coalition are the 'devil'. At the same time when elections approach, you can still read in the conservative press farcical declarations by centre-right candidates on what will happen if the 'communists' win.

She added: “For many voters their favourite coalition's victory is a matter of life or death.”

The results of the 2010 Student Union election have been announced but many are concerned about the low number of votes cast by students.

TJ Esubiyi was re-elected as Student Union president. Rhiannon Hiscocks hung onto her vice president activities post. 

All successful candidates stand to earn around £19,000 a year in their roles. In some cases however the contenders needed fewer than 200 votes to be elected into their post and only had one other person competing against them.

Abhinivesh Beechook, 21, a second year aeronautical engineering student, was elected as International students' officer. He said: “I am happy to have been elected but I am a bit disappointed by the turnout. Only 225 students voted for an international students' representative."

This year KU students were able to vote electronically via email. However, it appears that the system designed to make voting easier and encourage wider student participation has been marred by technological hitches, discouraging many from voting.

Galina Dhanoon who lost her race for the post of vice president for education said: “People were ringing me the last night before the elections saying 'how do you vote?' Or 'I'm having problems using the voting system.'

"That could be the difference between winning and losing.”

Jamie Pipkin, 18, first year history student was elected disability students officer. He said: “The turnout was pretty low and I think the election should have been better advertised.’’

Stefan Mattison, 19,  a second year Literature and film studies student, elected as VP for communication, said: ‘’I am very happy to have been elected. I am ecstatic.

"The turnout was pretty bad but I think it leads back to communication.

"During the three days campaign, people kept asking me 'What are you talking about?' We will definitely have to work on this for next year."

"The physical campaign came at the right time but we should start to inform about the elections at least two or three weeks before,” added Mr Mattison.

The SU election campaign was decided using the potentially more representative STV (single transferable vote). Each voter gets one vote, which can transfer from their first-preference candidate to their second-preference and so on, as necessary.

Candidates do not require a majority of votes to be elected, just a known 'quota', or share of the votes. This is determined by the size of the electorate and the number of positions to be filled.

Mark Horne, General Manager at KUSU said: "It is to be expected that there has been the odd teething problem. We still believe, as the majority of unions see a massive increase in year 2 of e-voting, that in the long run the benefits of e-voting (ease of use for voters, better access to manifestoes, convenience and the ability to vote if you are studying off campus) greatly outweigh the negatives.  

TJ Esubiyi was not available at announcement for comment.

Below are the successful candidates.

President - TJ Esubiyi

VP Communications - Stefan Mattison

VP Activities - Rhiannon Hiscocks

VP Education - Chris Dingle

Partner college officer - Vithiyatharan Lashanth

Women's officer – Zaima Khan

E&E officer - Daniela Eigner

International students’ officer -  Abhinivesh Beechook

LGBT - Katarzyna Kepa

Mature students officer – Sheila Leatherdale

Part-time students officer - Madiha Khan

Disabled students officer – Jamie Pipkin

In a country which is so religiously divided, you would not expect faith to be the decisive factor in the election, but a surprising new survey has suggested that it is.

"The UK isn't like the United States, but the religious vote is going to be a critical factor in determining who gets into Number 10," said Paul Woolley, director of the religious think-tank Theos, which published a poll on the religious vote.

The survey highlighted that despite the Iraq war and the restlessness over anti-terror legislations, 52% of Muslims intend to vote for the Labour party and 36% of the voters thought that Labour had been the friendliest towards Muslims.

The Tories were seen as the least friendly toward the Muslim faith by just under a quarter of people polled, against 12 per cent for Labour and 8 per cent for the Liberal Democrats.

These findings are echoed amongst Kingston University students with Labour winning popularity amongst students from ethnic backgrounds and religions. Of those who said they would vote Labour, half were of ethnic descent. Christian voters accounted for 42 per cent of Labour’s votes.

A first year biology student, Mohammed Alibaba, said he would be voting for the Labour party because “they are not as strict as the other parties and it is the best choice for such a mixed country,” he said.

Fifteen per cent of the students, who said they would vote for Labour, said they would do so to follow the trend that has existed for many years within their family of voting for the party.

One student, however, will be breaking this trend. A Journalism student, Janine Fotiadis-Negrepontis, said: “Everyone in my family has always voted Labour. However, for the first time in our family's history this may now change. Many of us have been disgusted with the government's decision to go to war, against the will of the country. I would imagine that many of them will cast a protest vote this time round and vote Liberal Democrat.”

Janine, who is from a white, working class background said that although she is not religious, she “staunchly” believes that “politics and religion should be kept separate at all costs.”

The British National Party secured no votes in the surveyed. Most of those who said they would prefer to vote for a party other than the far-right political party, expressed it was out of fear for people from their ethnic background being deported or for general concerns of restrictions being placed on people from ethnic backgrounds in the UK.

Lucy Jones, who is a Christian from the mixed Caribbean background, said: “If the BNP got in, we would be out of the country.”

Reverend Stan Brown from KU’s Chaplaincy said: “In recent years the Christian Churches in this country have always advised their members that voting for any party which has racist policies is incompatible with being a Christian.  Christian politics is not neutral – there are some things for which we will always stand.

“When there is an election, many of the larger churches will offer some very general advice to their members about voting.  This usually asks them to take into account issues of social justice, fairness, family policies and ethics in politics as well as whatever issues may concern us personally,” he added.

Despite the party’s consideration of lifting their ‘White-only policy” to let a Sikh member into their ranks, mainstream Sikh organisations were appalled.

The director of the Network of Sikh Organisations, Dr Indarjit Singh, said: “Sikhism stresses equality for all human beings. Therefore, Sikhs who are true to their faith will have nothing whatsoever to do with any party that favours any one section of the community.”

Following Labour’s attempt to reposition itself as the natural party of religious voters, rectifying the words expressed by Tony Blair’s communication’s chief, Alastair Campbell, who said: “We don’t do God,” it seems as if the Party have little to worry about when it comes to approaching students at Kingston University for religious votes.

KU students have the opportunity to shape the political landscape and play a decisive role in the election. However, those considering voting for a perspective party or candidate should consider what their vote means with regards to tuition fees.

A Labour review on tuition fees in 2004 meant students were paying as much as £3,225 per year. This rate, over a standard three year course would lead to students leaving higher education with almost £10,000 to pay back; this figure excludes rent and living expenses.

The government said it would review tuition fees last year, but decided against going ahead with it until after the election. However, all signs are that tuition fees will rise.

“There is a real prospect that fees might go up by £5,000, £7,000 or £10,000 per year. Some leaders and some vice- chancellors are already asking the opposition to push fees up,” said Aaron Porter, vice president of the NUS.

The NUS are keen to generate money for higher education funding from the tax payer rather than increasing the considerable debt taken on by undergraduates. The average graduate debt is now in excess of £22,000. Mr Porter said: “Part-time, post-grads and international students are charged a great deal more, as they have un-capped fees.”

 Both main parties have given their backing to prospect fee hikes. Labour has indicated that it wants to give permission to universities to set their own fees. 

The Conservatives have suggested a fee structure similar to the US system, which is much higher than in the UK.

The Lib Dems would prefer to cut tuition fees. Ed Davey, MP for Kingston-Surbiton said: “We want to slash top up fees. This time we know we can’t afford to do it so we will now do it over six years, we would gradually get it to all students.”

Mr Davey added: “I think with tuition fees we have got a whole range of problems, the most concerning one is that when students do graduate they have a huge millstone of debt round their neck.”

Max Freedman, Labour candidate for Kingston-Surbiton said: “There should not be any increase in tuition fees. Universities have to be paid for whether that is by tuition fees or some sort of graduate tax. We need a system that does not scare people off going to university; grants are a good thing.”

The Green Party have made similar overtures about their plans to do away with fees by raising tax. They hope to generate revenue for their projects by abolishing identity cards and scrapping the planned up-grade of the UK's nuclear arsenal.

 The party would advocate funding higher education by offering grants to students, instead of raising fees. This would ensure students left university with lower debt levels.

  “Our policy is to scrap any fees for higher education, the only way to do this is to raise taxes,” said Chris Walker, Green Party candidate for Kingston-Surbiton.

 However, Conservative candidate for Kingston-Richmond Helen Whately believes there is no realistic alternative to a tuition fee hike.

 “None of the three parties would be able support lowering tuition fees. The Lib Dems do not have a policy here, their whips will vote in accordance with the party line. The choice between Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem is clear, it’s not about who’s going to cut fees, it’s about who’s going to give you more for your money,” she said.