Winchester by-election, 1997
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The Member of Parliament for Winchester, Hampshire, England, Mark Oaten, (Liberal Democrat) was unseated on an electoral petition on October 6, 1997. Mr Oaten had originally been declared elected with a majority of two votes after many recounts and haggling over spoilt ballots. The High Court held that since the 54 votes declared void for want of the Official Mark would have changed the result if counted, and the court could not be sure they were not the product of a mistake, then the result was uncertain. They therefore allowed the petition and declared the election void.
The byelection was held on November 20, and resulted in a clear win by Oaten. Gerry Malone, the former Conservative MP who had lost his seat in the general election, was criticised as a 'poor loser'. The Labour Party obtained their worst ever results in a parliamentary election, in part because they hardly campaigned at all and instead focused their priorities on a by-election in Beckenham held on the same day.
Both the original and rerun election involved an incidence of a candidate using an attempted confusing description, with Richard Huggett describing himself in the general election as Liberal Democrat Top Choice For Parliament (leading to Oaten, the official Lib Dem candidate, to use the ballot paper description Liberal Democrat Leader Paddy Ashdown) and in the by-election as a 'Literal Democrat'. The Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 put an end to this practice.
[edit] Results
| By-election 1997: Winchester | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrats | Mark Oaten | 37,006 | 68.0 | +26.0 | |
| Conservative | Gerry Malone | 15,450 | 28.4 | −13.6 | |
| Labour | Patrick Davies | 944 | 1.7 | −8.8 | |
| UK Independence | Robin Page | 521 | 1.0 | +0.2 | |
| Monster Raving Loony | Lord David Sutch | 316 | 0.6 | +0.1 | |
| Literal Democrat | Richard Huggett | 51 | 0.1 | −0.9 | |
| Natural Law | Rosemary Barry | 48 | 0.1 | ||
| Independent Conservative | Roger Everest | 40 | 0.1 | ||
| Majority | 21,556 | ||||
| Turnout | 68.7 | ||||
| Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative | Swing | ||||
[edit] General Election result, 1997
| General Election 1997: Winchester | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrats | Mark Oaten | 26,100 | 42.1 | ||
| Conservative | Gerry Malone | 26,098 | 42.0 | ||
| Labour | Patrick Davies | 6,528 | 10.5 | ||
| Referendum Party | Peter Strand | 1,598 | 2.6 | ||
| Independent Liberal Democrat | Richard Huggett | 640 | 1.0 | ||
| UK Independence | Derek Rumsey | 476 | 0.8 | ||
| Independent (politician) | John Browne | 307 | 0.5 | ||
| Monster Raving Loony | Peter Stockton | 307 | 0.5 | ||
| Majority | 2 | ||||
| Turnout | |||||
| Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative | Swing | ||||
