County council elections will take place tomorrow, 2nd May, in over 30 counties across Britain. 27 county councils and 8 unitary authorities will offer all of their seats up for election.

In Cambridgeshire, 69 seats will be available. The city itself contains 14 electoral divisions. The majority of the student population live within the Market ward, but some colleges fall into the Castle and Newnham brackets.

In the last county council elections the Liberal Democrat party secured the majority of the wards in Cambridge itself. The rural areas on the other hand remained strongholds for the Conservative party. Julian Huppert was later elected Lib Dem MP of Cambridge.

Currently the Conservatives hold the majority of seats in nearly every county across England, with 1,477 seats nationally. This compares to 255 Labour seats, 480 for the Lib Dems, and 125 for independent parties.

The Guardian reports that the Tories are braced to lose up to 500 seats across the country. Just who will gain the lion's share remains to be seen.

Fred Cotterill, 1st year Girtonian and active member of the Cambridge University Labour Club, is interested to see what will happen. “The 2009 general elections proved bad for Labour. And the Lib Dems came off quite badly in the polls. I think Labour stand to gain around 300 or more seats.”

Within Cambridge itself, students constitute a large proportion of the city's population. Over two thirds of the people living in the Market ward are students, along with 16% of the inhabitants of the Castle ward.

Sam Ahmed, 3rd year Theology student at Girton, stresses the importance of student involvement within these wards. “The student wards really are the battlegrounds within Cambridge. Gaining the student vote has the potential to make a huge difference. The problem is that few students are given any information regarding these elections.”

The prevalence of student apathy has meant that councillors have avoided targeting them, not seeing them as a secure way to gain votes. In the general elections, just over half of the population at student age voted. Student turnout for county council elections is even less.

Dr. Peter Sarris, Senior Fellow in History at Trinity and Labour candidate for Newnham ward, believes it could be made easier. “JCRs should campaign to allow proper electioneering in colleges. Colleges make it very difficult to engage students in elections: we can't canvass staircases anymore and some colleges will not allow leaflet deliveries.

“Also, politics has got too managerial. When I was at Uni in the early 1990s, politics were driven by big ideological issues that motivated us. We are on the cusp of that coming back, but we are not there yet.”

With the elevation of student university fees to £9000 a year passed with the Tory/LibDem coalition, many students have grown disillusioned with politics. “I respect many Tories: with them, what you see is what you get,” says Sarris, “whereas the Lib Dems will say anything to get votes and cannot be trusted. Their voters are decent people taken advantage of by cynics and careerists.

“If students turn out, we can boot out one of Nick Clegg's local flunkies and send him a message.”

Ahmed argues that a chief reason for student apathy is a widespread disengagement with the issues. “In the bubble you assume people don’t have problems. Have you ever been to Arbury as a student? Dittenfields? If you went to some of the local wards and saw some of the problems, then you would want to vote.”

One way in which Ahmed and other students have been able to get involved in the local elections is by helping out with canvassing. This has provided an opportunity to talk to residents about some of their problems.

“Out canvassing, Peter Sarris possesses an incredible stamina. Every single door I went around with him, everybody knew him, by his first name.” Since January, Labour alone have canvassed 84% of all permanent residences, and sent over 10,000 direct mailings to students.

Sarris states that this commitment, along with his academic work, has not given him a free weekend since January. So why this commitment? “Because the county council elections are vital. The County has responsibility for transport, public health and education. Cambridge students have an obvious interest in all these areas.

“Importantly, the County provides many of the services upon which the most poor and needy depend - they are the people whose interests I am most committed to defending.”                            

Ahmed echoes this sentiment. “A few years ago I got an internship with an MP as part of a group, and we ended up serving as consultants for these charities for a whole week. What people don't realise is that serving the community is what really lies at the heart of politics, beyond the shouting on TV and scandal.

“Politics isn't a 9-5 job. Not even a 9-9 job. It's a 24hr job. You need to always be trying to help people. Often, that requires big sacrifices: but those willing to put the work in will often find there is nothing more rewarding. And it really is so easy to get involved.”

Voting commences between 7am and 10pm on Thursday 2nd of May. The results will be announced on Friday 3rd of May.