The Southend West by-election voting has now ended.
After the death of Sir David Amess MP (who had been serving the constituency in Essex since 1997), the election was called.
The 69-year-old Conservative MP was fatally stabbed in the stomach during a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church Hall, Leigh-on-Sea, on 15 October.
The results are expected to be announced by Friday morning. There were nine candidates on the ballot paper.
Only the Conservatives were among the major parties while Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the Green Party didn’t field candidates out respect for Sir David.
Here’s the complete list of potential candidates:
Christopher Anderson – Freedom Alliance
Catherine Blaiklock, English Democrats
Olga Childs – independent
Heritage Party – Ben Downton
Anna Firth – Conservative Party
Jayda Fransen – independent
Steve Laws – UKIP
Graham Moore – English Constitution Party
Jason Pilley – Psychedelic Movement
Simon Dedman, a BBC political reporter, was present at the count and said that turnout was low at 24% among a electorate of 66.354 people.
Southend West’s turnout for the 2019 General Election was 67%. Sir David had a 14,459 majority.
