Record turnout around the globe

Bayswater was not the only corner of the world outside America where Democrats were coming to vote in their party's primaries last night. While some expats made their choice online, others turned up at churches in Paris and Rome and some even packed into an Irish pub in Hong Kong.

The voting around the world – as well as in London, where Barack Obama won a landslide last night – helps decide which candidate gains the 11 votes allocated to Democrats Abroad at the Democratic National Convention in August. For the next week, Democrats – but not Republicans – can vote online.

Americans in Europe and Asia were part of the apparently record turnout brought on by this year's election. James McGuire, a 24-year-old website developer from Massachusetts, travelled to Rome from the Umbrian town of Orvieto to vote for Mr Obama. "I think it's one of the most important in years," he said. "If we do not get Barack Obama in the presidency, then we will have had two families for more than 20 years."

Alison Kurke, who was the first to vote at Rome's American Episcopal Church of St Paul's, thought otherwise: "I'm voting for Hillary. I'd like to see a woman in the White House."

For rolling comment on the US election visit: independent.co.uk/campaign08