Election of the day II: Clacton
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A reader in the Zambia thread reminded me that this is happening today as well:
Mr. Farage, who is under investigation for failing to declare a 5 million pound gift (about $6.7 million) from a British crypto-billionaire in Thailand, has said he hopes that a new mandate from his constituents in Clacton, a coastal area in Essex, England, will show that his voters do not care about the issue.
He said that he has been the subject of “constant demonization” by the press and his critics. The investigations into his finances, he claims, are proof that the “establishment have now decided that they can’t beat us fairly, so they’ve chosen to use foul means.”
After he resigned to force the new special election, all of Britain’s major parties boycotted it, calling it a stunt. Mr. Farage’s most significant opponent is a novelty candidate named Count Binface, who campaigns wearing a trash can over his head.
Mr. Farage and his advisers hoped to use the election to change the political narrative and give him a prominent victory over his major rival political parties. Instead, all of the main parties said they would not put forward candidates, preferring to wait for the results of the parliamentary investigation.
That makes it more likely that Mr. Farage will win a landslide, while making it harder for him to argue that he defeated “the establishment.”
Count Binface is a character played by Jon Harvey, 46, a writer and comedian who is part of Britain’s long tradition of novelty political candidates. He describes himself as an intergalactic space warrior from the planet Sigma IX. His campaign pledges include a promise to build “at least one affordable house” and to “cut your taxes and raise everyone else’s.”
People like Farage almost never get the humiliation they richly deserve, but a little longer at least we can dream. Polls just closed.