The voters of Winchester have confirmed the Liberal Democrat Mark Oaten as their MP by a huge majority in the by-election ordered by the courts following the disputed General Election result.

Their candidate, Mark Oaten, got 37,006 votes - a majority of 21,556. His majority in May was just two votes.

The vote was ordered by the courts after the second placed candidate in May, the Conservative Gerry Malone, protested successfully that 55 ballot papers had been wrongly excluded.

Gerry Malone's share of the vote collapsed

In Thursday's re-run, Mr Malone polled 15,450 votes. The Labour candidate, Patrick Davies, only got 944 and lost his deposit.

Mr Oaten said the result showed support for the Liberal Democrat policies of lower hospital waiting lists and greater investment in education. He added that it was bad news for the Conservatives and their leader, William Hague, who were "walloped" by a 20,000 majority. He said: "The Conservatives have not hit rock bottom yet."

The Liberal Democrat leader, Paddy Ashdown, hailed Mr Oaten's winning margin as proof that there were no glass ceilings for his party. He said it was a decisive rejection of Mr Hague's claim that the Conservatives are recovering.

The former Liberal Democrat president, Charles Kennedy, said the result showed that the party could ultimately displace the Tories as the official Opposition.

Mr Malone said his defeat was "hardly my most shining hour", but he insisted that pursuing the issue through the courts had been the right thing to do. He said the result reflected badly on the Government, which failed to get even 1,000 votes.

Voting in Winchester

Winchester is now the safest Liberal Democrat seat in the country. The party won 68% of the vote, an increase of 26% from May 1. The majority was 40%. The Conservative share of the vote was 28%, down 14%. The swing from Conservative to Liberal Democrat was 20%.

Labour's vote was its lowest in any by-election since World War II. Its share was down 9% to less than 2%. A BBC correspondent said Labour supporters seem to have voted tactically.

The turnout was 69% at 54,384, down 10% from the General Election.

Votes for each of the Winchester candidates:

• Mark Oaten (Liberal Democrat) - 37,006
• Gerry Malone (Conservative) - 15,450
• Patrick Davies (Labour) - 944
• Robin Page (Referendum/UK Independence Alliance) - 521
• Lord David Sutch (Official Monster Raving Looney Party) - 316
• Richard Huggett (Literal Democrat Mark Here To Win) - 59
• Rosemary Barry (Natural Law) - 48
• Roger Everest (Euro Conservative) - 40
   
  Mark Oaten: result wallops Conservatives (Dur: 1'18")
  Gerry Malone: vote was hangover from previous Government (Dur: 1'06")
  
  
  
  
  

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