The leader of the UK far-right Reform Party, Nigel Farage, has regained his seat in parliament after winning a by-election boycotted by major parties and triggered by his resignation last month.
His main rival in the special election held on Thursday was Count Boniface, a satirical candidate who dresses in a trash-can costume and mocks British politics through his jokes. With this, Mr Farage will return to parliament as the representative of the Clacton constituency.
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The election result was announced on Friday. The BBC reports that Mr Farage received 22,239 votes, which constituted 63 per cent in the by-election. Count Boniface got 9,455 votes. This was the second-highest vote, at 27 per cent.
A total of 34 candidates contested in the election.
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Mr Farage resigned his seat in mid-July after the British parliament opened an investigation into whether he failed to report a $6.7 million gift from Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne in 2024.
The Reform Party leader, who cheered for Britain to vote to leave the European Union in 2016, insisted on doing nothing wrong because there was no need to declare the money. He said the money was a personal gift made before he was elected.
After the parliament opened the investigation, he resigned, decrying what he described as an “establishment hit job” and a media-driven “witch-hunt.” He also opted to run again for his seat to prove he had voters’ support.
The BBC reports that Mr Farage, after Friday’s announcement, celebrated the result as an “overwhelming win” that increased his vote share over the last election.
“Today the voters in Clacton have stuck up two fingers to the entire political establishment,” Mr Farage said, referring to the British equivalent of a crude gesture that employs the middle finger in other cultures,” he said.
The election further raises concerns about the rise of far-right politicians in Europe. However, it is difficult to draw broad conclusions about Mr Farage’s win because there were no real opponents.
Mr Farage is also popular in the Clacton Conservative constituency on the east coast of England.
According to the Labour Party chairwoman, Bridget Phillipson, the election did not translate into a victory for Mr Farage.
She also insisted that he must disclose the truth about his finances.
“The mountain of sleaze and scandal he and Reform are now engulfed in has grown and grown while he’s been trying to distract the public by fighting a by-election against a bin,” Ms Phillipson said.
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Hours after the result was announced, the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards also announced that it was resuming the investigation.
It suspended the investigation after Mr Farage resigned.
Mr Farage is also being investigated over his financial ties to George Cottrell, a wealthy crypto-gambling businessman who spent eight months in a US prison for fraud about ten years ago.
Mr Cottrell had offered to help undercover agents posing as drug dealers launder money.
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