Count Binface speaks to members of the media after arriving at the count centre venue for the result of the byelection for the parliamentary seat of Clacton. Photo / Henry Nicholls, AFP
Vote counting was underway early Friday after an unusual English byelection shunned by mainstream parties, pitting influential hard-right leader Nigel Farage against Count Binface, a man with a rubbish bin on his head.
The snap poll, called when Farage resigned last month from Parliament amid scrutiny into his finances, was
dismissed by some voters in the eastern constituency of Clacton as a “farce”.
The main political parties sat out the election, calling it a stunt by Farage to dodge scrutiny, leaving the hard-right Reform UK leader to battle it out with joke candidate Binface, the alter ego of comedian Jon Harvey.
The vote count was set to run through the night and results expected by around 7am local time Friday, with a record 32 other fringe candidates joining Farage and Binface on the ballot paper.
Farage was predicted to easily win the seat he first swept in the 2024 general election, but analysts warned that Binface could get an unprecedented 20% of the vote.
Farage already declared victory, telling GB News just after midnight that he had won “fairly convincingly”.
“I’ve managed to beat the establishment candidate,” he said in an event at Essex.
“Look, this is an overwhelming endorsement of me. I have had enough of being judged by mainstream media, being called a criminal.”
But some voiced their support for his metallic opponent earlier.
“I think it’ll be a close one between Binface and Nigel. I would love to see Binface win,” said 23-year-old Michael, who wasn’t registered to vote in the area but was hanging around the main town of Clacton-on-Sea as polling day drew to a close.
Even if Farage emerges victorious, experts say his attempt to regain political momentum had backfired.
His “spoof” contender was making him “look rather silly”, Queen Mary University of London politics professor Stijn van Kessel told AFP.
Farage announced his surprise resignation on July 7 amid a parliamentary probe into allegations he and Reform’s deputy, Richard Tice, failed to declare financial gifts.
The leader of the hard-right Reform UK party, which topped polls for 18 months but has slipped recently, framed the vote as “the people of Clacton versus the Establishment”, aimed at thwarting the “stitch-up” over his finances.
