Winchester by-election, 1997

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.

This was also the last election (by or general) in which Screaming Lord Sutch (real name, David Edward Sutch, (November 10, 1940 – June 16, 1999), founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, ran for a parliamentary seat. He committed suicide in 1999.

Results

Election box begin
title=By-election 1997: WinchesterElection box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Mark Oaten
votes = 37,006
percentage = 68.0
change = +26.0Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Gerry Malone
votes = 15,450
percentage = 28.4
change = −13.6Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Patrick Davies
votes = 944
percentage = 1.7
change = −8.8Election box candidate with party link
party = United Kingdom Independence Party
candidate = Robin Page
votes = 521
percentage = 1.0
change = +0.2Election box candidate with party link
party = Official Monster Raving Loony Party
candidate = Lord David Sutch
votes = 316
percentage = 0.6
change = +0.1Election box candidate
party = Literal Democrat
candidate = Richard Huggett
votes = 51
percentage = 0.1
change = −0.9Election box candidate with party link
party = Natural Law Party
candidate = Rosemary Barry
votes = 48
percentage = 0.1
change = Election box candidate
party = Independent Conservative
candidate = Roger Everest
votes = 40
percentage = 0.1
change = Election box majority
votes = 21,556
percentage =
change = Election box turnout
votes =
percentage = 68.7
change =Election box gain with party link
winner = Liberal Democrats (UK)
loser = Conservative Party (UK)
swing =

General Election result, 1997

Election box begin
title=General Election 1997: WinchesterElection box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Mark Oaten
votes = 26,100
percentage = 42.1
change =Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Gerry Malone
votes = 26,098
percentage = 42.0
change =Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Patrick Davies
votes = 6,528
percentage = 10.5
change =Election box candidate with party link
party = Referendum Party
candidate = Peter Strand
votes = 1,598
percentage = 2.6
change =Election box candidate
party = Independent Liberal Democrat
candidate = Richard Huggett
votes = 640
percentage = 1.0
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = United Kingdom Independence Party
candidate = Derek Rumsey
votes = 476
percentage = 0.8
change =Election box candidate
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = John Browne
votes = 307
percentage = 0.5
change =Election box candidate with party link
party = Official Monster Raving Loony Party
candidate = Peter Stockton
votes = 307
percentage = 0.5
change =Election box majority
votes = 2
percentage =
change = Election box turnout
votes =
percentage =
change =Election box gain with party link
winner = Liberal Democrats (UK)
loser = Conservative Party (UK)
swing =

ee also

* List of United Kingdom by-elections