Tajammul Gurmani:
Manchester:
The Green Party has won the Gorton and Denton by-election, taking the seat from Labour. Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer has won the parliamentary by-election race in Manchester with a huge margin of 4,402 votes against Reform UK candidate Matt Goodwin, who secured 10,578 votes, while Labour Party candidate Angeliki Stogia stood in third place with 9,364 votes.
According to the official declaration of the result announced at the Central Convention Centre Manchester early on Friday morning by Tom Stannard, the Acting Returning Officer of the Gorton and Denton Constituency, the results were as follows: Hannah Spencer, Green Party 14,980, Matt Goodwin, Reform UK 10,578, Angeliki Stogia, Labour Party 9,364, Sir Onik A Lot, 159, Nick Buckley 154, Charlotte Anne 706, Dan Clarke 47, Sabastian Moore 46, Joseph Bernard O’Meachair 98, Jackie Pearcey, Liberal Democrats 653, and Hugo Wils 9 votes. The total number of votes cast was 36,840, and turnout was recorded at 47.6 per cent.
The by-election was held in the Gorton and Denton constituency after Labour MP Andrew Gwynne resigned due to health reasons. There were 45 polling stations set up. The total number of registered voters was 77,000, while 11 candidates representing 11 parties participated in this election. In this by-election, the two new parties, Green and Reform, replaced the two major parties, Conservative and Liberal Democrat, in the main contest. Before the election, Reform was leading in the opinion polls, but the final result overturned the surveys, and voters rejected the far-right policies.
Talking to The London Post, Cllr Shahbaz Sarwar of the Workers Party, who was supporting the Green Party, said that people placed their confidence in the Green Party because its policies were very favourable towards youth, the environment, immigration and the Palestine issue. Labour MP Afzal Khan said that it was difficult to believe that people had rejected the Labour government, adding that by-elections are always tough for the government. He said the Labour Party still exists, and that people refused the politics of hate and division in this election.
