With the election less than a month away, and with the candidates getting out on the campaign trail as soon as Tony Blair had announced the date, we present a snapshot of the constituencies:

OXFORD EAST Confirmed candidates:

Andrew Smith (Labour), Virginia Morris (Conservative), Steve Goddard (Liberal Democrat), Jacob Sanders (Green), Maurice Lean (Independent Working Class Association), Honest T Blair (New Loony), Dr Peter Gardner (UK Independence Party)

If you believe his opponents, Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, who took nearly half the vote in the 2001 election, quit his Cabinet post as Work and Pensions Secretary last year because he was "running scared" of losing his seat, which he had held since 1987. The fact remains that Mr Smith enjoys the largest majority of all Oxfordshire MPs.

OXFORD WEST AND ABINGDON Confirmed candidates:

Dr Evan Harris (Liberal Democrat), Amanda McLean (Conservative), Antonia Bance (Labour), Tom Lines (Green)

The Liberal Democrats are concerned about a fresh challenge from the Tories in Oxford West and Abingdon. The constituency is split in two halves with the Oxford share containing large swathes of the university, John Radcliffe Hospital, shopping districts and affluent parts of the city.

BANBURY Confirmed candidates:

Tony Baldry (Conservative), Leslie Sibley (Labour), Zoe Patrick (Liberal Democrat), Alyson Duckmanton (Green)

Conservative Tony Baldry enjoys the slimmest majority of all the Oxfordshire MPs in a constituency with some of the most fiercely debated topics around. In Banbury the future of the Horton Hospital is in doubt after some departments were closed. In Bicester, work is continuing on the asylum detainee centre, which will be one of the biggest in the country.

HENLEY Confirmed candidates:

Boris Johnson (Conservative), David Turner (Liberal Democrat), Kaleem Saeed (Labour), Mark Stevenson (Green), Delphine Gray-Fisk (UK Independence Party)

Flamboyant magazine editor, television talk show regular and former shadow arts and culture secretary Boris Johnson is widely regarded to have one of the safest Tory seats in the county. Situated in commuter belt territory and including prosperous farming communities, the constituency also covers Thame, Goring, Wheatley and Great Milton.

WANTAGE Confirmed candidates:

Ed Vaizey (Conservative), Mark McDonald (Labour), Andy Crawford (Liberal Democrat), Adam Twine (Green)

Together with his Tory colleague David Cameron, parliamentary candidate Ed Vaizey is seen as a big part of the future Conservative Party. But how will he fare in the election following Robert Jackson's shock defection to the Labour Party? The Tories fear a backlash due to Mr Jackson's renegade behaviour.

WITNEY Confirmed candidates:

David Cameron (Conservative), Tony Gray (Labour), Richard Dossett-Davies (Green), Liz Leffman (Liberal Democrat)

It will be one of the biggest shocks of the General Election if the Tories' chief election strategist, David Cameron, is ousted from his Witney seat. Mr Cameron has been charged with masterminding a Conservative victory on May 5 and has consistently argued the party's hopes rely on core policies around cleaner hospitals, better school discipline, a sensible approach to asylum and a crackdown on law and order.

VOTING

To to be eligible to vote in the General Election your name must be on the electoral register. If you are not on it already, you have missed your chance.

You must also be aged 18 or over on election day, a citizen of the UK, resident in a constituency or living abroad for less than 20 years, or a Commonwealth or Irish citizen living in a UK constituency.

Those barred from voting includes members of the House of Lords, prisoners and psychiatric patients detained under the Mental Health Act.