Shropshire Star

Here are the 10 least popular candidates from the General Election

Some parties feature more than once on the list.

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It’s been a night of highs and lows for the main parties, but smaller parties and independents have struggled in this election.

In order to make the ballot paper, candidates have to have 10 nominations from constituents and pay £500, a deposit which is not returned if they fail to reach 5% of the vote.

Here are the 10 candidates with the lowest amount of votes.

10. Mark Shuker (Compass Party) /Joe Westridge (Social Democratic Party) – 38 votes each

Mark Shuker, an engineer from Worcester, is a former Liberal Democrat who ran for newly formed party Compass on Thursday. He stood in the 2015 election gaining almost double what he managed this time with 69 votes.

He is tied with Joe Westridge, who stood for the Social Democratic Party in Sheffield Central.

9. Gavan Reynolds (Independent) – 37 votes

Gavan Reynolds stood as an independent in Down North. The seat was swiped by another independent, ex-Ulster Unionist Sylvia Hermon.

8. Daniel Lambert (Socialist Party of Great Britain) – 32 votes

(PA)
(PA)

Daniel Lambert represented the Socialist Party of Great Britain in the constituency of Battersea on Thursday. He told the BBC in May that the party is the “most democratic organisation you will find in the world” and, as such, has no leader.

7. Rodney Maile (The New Society of Worth) – 31 votes

The candidate for the New Society of Worth stood in Preseli Pembrokeshire. The party’s policies included a system of email referendums, curbing ‘mind control’ for political purposes and wages for women bringing up children.

6. DaleKalamazad (Independent) – 29 votes

Independent parliamentary candidate for Hackney South & Shoreditch Dale Kalamazad failed to win back his deposit. Labour’s Meg Hillier ended up taking the seat with 43,974 votes – considerably more than 29.

5. Peter Clifford (Communist League) – 27 votes

Communist League candidate Peter Clifford struggled in the Manchester Gorton constituency following an unsuccessful bid for mayor. The butcher campaigned on issues such as combating anti-Semitism and improving health care.

4. BillMartin (Socialist Party of Great Britain) – 21 votes

The Socialist Party of Great Britain made the bottom 10 again with Bill Martin. It’s not surprising – he stood against Jeremy Corbyn, who was returned with 40,086 votes. In fact, the four lowest vote totals were for people standing against the two main party leaders.

3. YemiHailemariam (Independent) – 16 votes

Yemi Hailemariam stood in Maidenhead in the hopes of securing a meeting Theresa May to talk about the imprisonment of her husband, human rights activist Andy Tsege, in Ethiopia.

She wore a t-shirt bearing the slogan ‘Free Andy Tsege’ for the count.

2. Andres Mendoza (Communist League) – 7 votes

Another entry from the Communist League, as Andres Mendoza stood in Islington, bringing in fewer votes than the number of nominations required to stand.

1. Bobby Smith (Independent) – 3

( Stefan Rousseau/PA)
( Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Bobby Smith, dressed as Sesame Street character Elmo, stood against Prime Minister Theresa May. He brought in what is thought to be the second lowest amount of votes ever.

It’s a significant slide from his last general election: in 2015 the fathers’ rights activist stood against David Cameron in Witney, pulling in 37 votes.

Catherine Taylor-Dawson from the Vote For Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket still holds the title. She achieved two votes in the Cardiff North constituency in 2005.

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