Sagal Abdi-Wali has been elected Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras following the parliamentary by-election held on Thursday 8 October. Labour retained the central London constituency after an overnight count, with Abdi-Wali finishing ahead of Green Party leader Zack Polanski.
Abdi-Wali received 12,292 votes and Polanski received 8,928, giving the Labour candidate a winning margin of 3,364. The result was announced early on Friday 9 October. Turnout was 38.76 per cent, meaning fewer than four in ten eligible voters took part in the poll.
Labour and Greens lead the count
The 15 candidates received a combined 27,211 valid votes. Calculated from the published totals, Abdi-Wali took approximately 45.2 per cent of valid votes and Polanski approximately 32.8 per cent. Those percentages describe the division of valid votes, rather than the proportion of the whole electorate supporting either candidate.
The difference between the leading candidates was larger than the entire vote total of any other individual candidate. The Conservative candidate, Ewan Cameron, finished third with 1,922 votes. Peter Newman, standing for Reform UK, was fourth with 1,612.
Patrick Thomas Stillman, the Liberal Democrat candidate, received 924 votes. Tyler Kurtis Johnson, standing for Restore Britain, received 692. George Galloway, for the Workers Party, received 314, while Briony Anne Lonbay Kapoor, standing for Rejoin EU, received 236.
The remaining candidates
Barmy Brunch, representing the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, received 87 votes. Helen Spiby-Vann, standing for the Christian Peoples Alliance, received 63. Clare Fischer, for the Climate Party, and Ben Walker, whose ballot description was UKIP – No to Illegal Immigration, each received 51 votes.
Ketankumar Pipaliya, standing for UK VOICE Safer and Stronger UK, received 23 votes. Jonathan Silberman, for the Communist League, received nine. Tom Darwood received seven; the published results list did not show a party description alongside his name.
The ballot brought together established parties, smaller organisations and a candidate without a listed party description. The published figures distinguish every candidate by name and, where provided, the description used on the ballot.
Turnout and rejected ballots
A further 108 ballot papers were rejected, taking the combined number of valid and rejected papers to 27,319. Of the rejected papers, 43 were marked for more than one candidate. The other 65 were unmarked or void for uncertainty.
No papers were rejected for lacking an official mark, and none were rejected because writing or a mark could identify the voter. The rejection figures are recorded separately from the candidates’ totals and do not form part of their shares of valid votes.
The turnout figure of 38.76 per cent is a different measure again. It compares participation with the eligible electorate, not one candidate’s tally with another. Keeping turnout, valid votes and rejected papers separate gives a clearer account of what the count establishes.
A new representative for the constituency
The poll followed Keir Starmer’s departure from the seat. Abdi-Wali is now the elected parliamentary representative for Holborn and St Pancras. The completed count settles the constituency’s representation following this by-election, with Labour retaining the seat and the Greens finishing second.
