United Kingdom: Farage regains seat in Clacton with 63% of vote in 'convincing and overwhelming win'

Nigel Farage was reelected on Friday as the member of Parliament for Clacton-on-Sea in a special election that the major British political parties decided not to contest. The leader of Reform U.K. won 63% of the vote in the constituency in eastern England, according to official results cited by AFP.

Farage had resigned in July from his seat, which he had held since 2024, in the face of a parliamentary investigation into his finances. The election was held on Thursday, and although the count was not yet complete, the politician had already declared victory and did not attend the official tally.

"The verdict is in and it is a convincing and overwhelming win," he declared to his supporters at a rally in Essex broadcast on X, as they chanted his name.

Farage framed the vote as "the people versus the establishment" and as an attempt to thwart an "organized campaign" surrounding his finances.

Count Binface exceeds expectations

Farage's main rival turned out to be Count Binface, the comic character created by comedian Jon Harvey, who presents himself as an "intergalactic space warrior" from the planet Sigma IX and campaigns with a trash can on his head. Binface received 9,455 votes, 27% of the total, a figure higher than analysts had anticipated.

"The moral victory is already mine," he told AFP at the counting center early Friday morning. However, Binface also acknowledged the result: "If a majority of the voters of Clacton say they would like [Farage] to be returned as their M.P., that is to be respected."

Voter turnout stood at around 44%, down from the 59% in the 2024 general election—a typical figure for this type of election.