British anti-EU party wins second seat in parliament

London, Nov 21 (IANS/EFE) The UK Independence Party (UKIP) Friday won its second seat in parliament after MP Mark Reckless was chosen in a by-election that was held Thursday for an English constituency which became vacant after he left the Conservative Party and joined the UKIP.

Reckless won the Rochester and Strood by-election with 16,867 votes, followed by Conservative candidate Kelly Tolhurst with 13,947 votes and Naushabah Khan of the Labor Party with 6,713, the BBC reported.

Voter turnout reached 50.67 percent, according to the data cited by the BBC.

In addition to Reckless's seat, the UKIP led by Nigel Farage, already got a seat in parliament when Douglas Carswell, who also left the Conservatives and joined the UKIP, won in Clacton constituency last month.

The victory of the UKIP is considered another blow to Prime Minister David Cameron, whose party has been losing followers to the anti-European bloc, only six months away from the general election in Britain.

Besides Reckless and Carswell, Richard Barnes, who was the Conservative deputy of Mayor Boris Johnson of London between 2008 and 2012, decided two months ago to leave his party and join the UKIP.

The UKIP has won 24 seats in the European elections after receiving almost 30 percent of the votes in May, with a distinct anti-European and anti-immigration agenda.

--IANS/EFE

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