EMBARRASSINGLY, it was predicted that fewer young people would vote in the election than in the phone-in Big Brother evictions. Indeed it would seem voter apathy in young people was extremely high.

It set me to thinking about how well informed I, aged 15, would be if I could vote.

The Student Election, set up by history teacher, Mr Tester, was therefore the perfect opportunity to jump in the deep end. It would help me understand the issues better and perhaps disprove labels that adults so often attach to teenagers. That and I rather fancied the idea of striding round wearing a rosette.

My friend Duncan and I joined forces and, after some discussion, we decided that I would be the candidate and Duncan would be my agent. Which party would it be? Luckily we were both pretty sure we wanted to go for Labour and parted with plans to draft a manifesto and smuggle babies into school for me to kiss. I've always liked to think I am well-informed. I diligently watch the news instead of Big Breakfast and have replaced the time-honoured tradition of cereal-packet reading with the newspaper.

After this St Paul on the road to Damascus style revelation I became a new woman. It became clear to me if I was going to be able to justify myself and do the whole thing properly I had better immerse myself in the campaign. I read the newspaper with religious zeal, surfed the internet and put www.labour.org on my favourites list, I watched every news programme and read every piece of political literature.

It was a pretty exhausting business. To my relief I discovered that I still supported my original decision, though on the quiet I thought the Lib Dems had quite a good case.

Of course, this was not a war without opponents and so unfortunately the other parties were beginning to make an appearance. It took a long time for anyone to come forward as the Conservative candidate, which I find baffling in a predominantly Tory area. Liberal Democrats were the first to show their fighting spirit in the energetic form of Mark Hughes, closely followed by the tardy but noble Conservative candidate Ed Corcoran.

Just as I was getting used to the competition a new altogether stranger player entered the game in the unlikely form of the Communist Party. This turn of events left me feeling somewhat stranded. I had been planning blistering attacks on my more right-wing opponents, the Conservatives; not expecting to be left trying to defend the party from attacks from the opposite direction.

However, if I had been afraid of lengthy discussions on Marxist principles I needn't have got too concerned. The Communist Party was hugely popular, not because the pupils of Borlase felt that bourgeois oppressors must be overthrown (an amusing notion in affluent Marlow!) but more because they were attracting the anti-politics vote. It is so much more exciting to shout "Down with capitalist scum!" than "We're going to invest a third more money in the NHS!."

My real opponents were ignorance and apathy. I began to put up "Don't be a political couch potato" posters (although I think my couch potato looked so elated it sent out the wrong message entirely). If Labour won, which I knew to be unlikely now, it would not have any effect except my satisfaction, and so in that sense the result didn't matter. What really mattered was beating the politics doesn't matter party, which has such a hold. We twilight-zoners are the voters of the future and the fate of the country is in our hands. If we don't bother to understand politics then we are being massively irresponsible. Without understanding, we cannot question the running of the country and we remove our freedom of democracy.

The last four days of the campaign were, as predicted, the most active. We all spent our time frantically sticking up posters, presenting our case at assemblies and distributing manifestos. The lunchtime debate was especially lively with some challenging questions being asked, along with some predictably spirited support for the Communist mob. Perhaps they wouldn't have become quite so spirited if I hadn't called them all morons in my speech (sorry guys!).

I used poling day lunchtime as a last ditch attempt to get people to think about the issues they were voting on. Most had already voted but for every Communist who called me scum (or, even more alarmingly, Margaret Thatcher) there were several who wanted to know more, or at least didn't look too bored when I talked to them. Some gallantly volunteered to go and vote a second time on my party's behalf.

The final result was a predictable landslide for comrade Andy Thomas, the charismatic Communist. No surprises there. I was delighted that Labour came second, albeit a rather distantly. In the real elections the Conservatives comfortably kept their seat, no doubt with the help of many Borlase parents. I like to think this means that Duncan and I convinced some to seriously consider political beliefs rather than just inherit parents' views, as if they were genetic. The Conservative came a close third followed by a good result for the Lib Dems.

The mock election taught me an enormous amount and helped me form new opinions.

The bulk of it I can summarise thus. Knowing your facts is vital if anyone is to take what you say seriously (Oliver Letwin take note!); it is important to argue rationally but statistics are only impressive for the five seconds your listeners stay awake; and there is a very good reason why under 18s are not allowed to vote.

Bianca Leggett

Sir William Borlase's

Grammar School

Marlow