2014 Clacton by-election
9 October 2014
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Clacton constituency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 64.2% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Clacton was held on 9 October 2014. It was triggered by incumbent Conservative Party MP Douglas Carswell defecting to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and subsequently resigning his seat to seek re-election as its candidate. Carswell retained the seat with 59.7% of the vote, becoming UKIP's first elected MP.
The Conservatives came second, and Labour third. UKIP's result was the biggest increase in the share of a vote for any party in any by-election in history, according to John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University. A by-election in Heywood and Middleton was held on the same day.