Winchester by-election, 1997

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The 1997 Winchester by election was a by-election to the UK House of Commons in the constituency of Winchester, Hampshire. After an unclear (and extremely close) result in Winchester at the general election on 1 May 1997, a new election was allowed by the High Court. The by election, held on 20 November, was won by Mark Oaten (Liberal Democrat) with a majority of 21,556.

By-elections, also spelled bye-elections, are used to fill elected offices that have become vacant between general elections.

House of Commons of the United Kingdom Lower house in the Parliament of the United Kingdom

The House of Commons, officially the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled, is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster. Owing to shortage of space, its office accommodation extends into Portcullis House.

Winchester (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom

Winchester is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Steve Brine, a Conservative.

Contents

History

At the general election on 1 May 1997, Mark Oaten was originally declared the winner, with a majority of two votes over Conservative Gerry Malone, after many recounts and haggling over spoilt ballots.

Conservative Party (UK) Political party in the United Kingdom

The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom. The governing party since 2010, it is the largest in the House of Commons, with 313 Members of Parliament, and also has 249 members of the House of Lords, 18 members of the European Parliament, 31 Members of the Scottish Parliament, 12 members of the Welsh Assembly, eight members of the London Assembly and 8,916 local councillors.

Peter Gerald Malone is a British Conservative politician who was an MP from 1983–87 and 1992–97.

Oaten was unseated on an electoral petition on 6 October 1997. The High Court held that 54 votes declared void for want of the Official Mark would have changed the result if counted. The court could not be sure they were not the product of a mistake, therefore deemed that the result was uncertain. They allowed the petition and declared the election void. The writ for the new election was moved on 28 October 1997. [1]

Writ of election Official writ calling for an election

A writ of election is a writ issued ordering the holding of an election. In Commonwealth countries writs are the usual mechanism by which general elections are called and are issued by the head of state or their representative. In the United States, it is more commonly used to call a special election for a political office.

The by election on 20 November resulted in a clear win by Oaten – his majority was 21,556 over second placed Gerry Malone, the former Conservative MP who had lost his seat in the general election. Campaigning had focused on Oaten's speaking record in the House of Commons after the general election, [2] while the nature of the controversial 1 May election result was also an issue for some Liberal Democrat voters.

The Independent wrote, "Although careful not to articulate it themselves, their unofficial campaign slogan is: 'When the umpire gives you out, you should walk'", [2] alluding to the unseated Malone. 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 the by-election in Beckenham held on the same day.

Umpire (cricket) Person who has the authority to make judgements on the cricket field

In cricket, an umpire is a person who has the authority to make decisions about events on the cricket field, according to the Laws of Cricket. Besides making decisions about legality of delivery, appeals for wickets and general conduct of the game in a legal manner, the umpire also keeps a record of the deliveries and announces the completion of an over.

Dismissal (cricket) out in the game of cricket

In cricket, a dismissal occurs when a batsman's period of batting is brought to an end by the opposing team. It is also known as the batsman being out, the batting side losing a wicket, and the fielding side taking a wicket. The dismissed batsman must leave the field of play permanently for the rest of their team's innings, and is replaced by a teammate. This continues until the end of the innings, which is often when 10 of the 11 team members are dismissed - as players bat in pairs, when only one person is undismissed it is not possible for the team to bat any longer. This is known as bowling out the batting team.

The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The party's platform emphasises greater state intervention, social justice and strengthening workers' rights.

Screaming Lord Sutch, candidate in the by election Screaming Lord Sutch.jpg
Screaming Lord Sutch, candidate in the by election

Both the original and rerun election involved an incidence of a candidate using an attempted confusing description. Richard Huggett described 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 Literal Democrat Mark Here to Win. The Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 put an end to this practice.

Registration of Political Parties Act 1998

The Registration of Political Parties Act 1998, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which made legal provision to set up a register of political parties in the United Kingdom. Previously there had been no such register, and political parties were not specially recognised. There were 468 political parties registered in the UK on 8 October 2016.

This was also the last election (by-or-general) in which Screaming Lord Sutch, founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, ran for a parliamentary seat. He committed suicide in June 1999.

Results

By election 1997: Winchester [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Liberal Democrat 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
UKIP Robin Page 521 1.0 +0.2
Monster Raving Loony Lord David Sutch 316 0.6 +0.1
"Literal Democrat Mark Here to Win" Richard Huggett 59 0.1−0.9
Natural Law Rosemary Barry 48 0.1
Independent Conservative Roger Everest 40 0.1
Majority 21,556 39.6
Turnout 54,384 68.7 - 9.9
Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative Swing 19.8

General election result

At the general election (held five months before the by election), the top two candidates' votes were very close.

General Election 1997: Winchester
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Liberal Democrat Mark Oaten 26,100 42.1
Conservative Gerry Malone 26,098 42.1
Labour Patrick Davies 6,528 10.5
Referendum Peter Strand 1,598 2.6
"Liberal Democrat Top Choice for Parliament" Richard Huggett 640 1.0
UKIP Derek Rumsey 476 0.8
Independent John Browne 307 0.5
Monster Raving Loony Peter Stockton 307 0.5
Majority 2 0.0
Turnout 62,054 78.6 - 4.6
Void election result Swing

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Bryn Morgan (29 March 2001). "By-election results: 1997-2000" (PDF). Research paper 01/36. House of Commons Library. p. 11. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  2. 1 2 Castle, Stephen (16 November 1997). "Tory tries the woolly pully way to power". The Independent. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
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