Nigel Farage has drawn 34 candidates into the Clacton by-election after resigning as MP on 7 July and then standing again. Voters in the Clacton constituency will go to the polls on 13 August.
The Statement of Persons Nominated posted outside Clacton Town Hall and on the district council’s website lists 34 names, including 20 independents and three candidates from the Monster Raving Loony party. Tendring District Council said the field is thought to be the highest in a by-election in modern times, with the previous understood record of 26 candidates set at the Haltemprice and Howden by-election in July 2008.
Clacton Town Hall list
The long list means voters in Clacton are facing a ballot that is far larger than the usual by-election field. Farage is the only candidate from a Westminster party, while Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party have all declined to take part in the contest for the Essex seat.
Farage and his opponents
Farage’s return to the race creates the central contradiction in the contest: he triggered the by-election by resigning as MP on 7 July, then entered the ballot again. Count Binface and Laurence Fox are among his highest-profile opponents, giving the race a mix of independents, novelty candidates and one Westminster-party contender.
For voters, the immediate practical step is straightforward: the candidate list is now set, and the decision goes to the ballot on 13 August. The only open question left by the list itself is how much a 34-candidate field will split attention in Clacton.
