The United Kingdom Independence Party

United Kingdom Independence Party

The United Kingdom Independence Party is a eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Whilst its primary goal is the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, the party has expanded beyond its single-issue image to develop a more comprehensive party platform.UKIP...

 (UKIP) held a leadership election in September 2006.

The Eurosceptic

EuroSceptic

EuroSceptic is the second album of British singer Jack Lucien. It was released in October 2009.Due to being an album influenced by Europop, it features songs with parts in different languages...

 party had been led since 2002 by Roger Knapman

Roger Knapman

Roger Maurice Knapman is a British politician and the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party ....

. Although he was entitled to stand for second term of office on the expiry of his four-year term, he decided not to, claiming that he was too old for the post.

Candidates

Four candidates stood in the election:

• Nigel Farage
  Nigel Farage
  Nigel Paul Farage MEP , a position he previously held from September 2006 to November 2009. He is a current Member of the European Parliament for South East England and co-chairs the Eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group....
  
   was an MEP
  Member of the European Parliament
  A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
  
   for South East England
  South East England (European Parliament constituency)
  South East England is a constituency of the European Parliament. It currently elects 10 Members of the European Parliament using the D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.- Boundaries :...
  
  , and the group's leader in the European Parliament
  European Parliament
  The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
  
  . He called for the party to avoid being seen as a single issue pressure group, by focussing campaigning on low taxation, selective education and a distinctive trade policy. He was viewed as the highest-profile candidate, and was backed by the party's largest donor, Alan Bown.

• Richard Suchorzewski, the Chair of UKIP Wales, had defected from the Conservative Party
  Conservative Party (UK)
  The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
  
   in 2004, and called for the party to develop greater internal democracy, with the formation of a governing committee who would liaise with members on policy initiatives. He also wanted to prioritise the recruitment of more members under 40 and for party leaders to be based permanently in the UK. He attracted the backing of former chairman Petrina Holdsworth
  Petrina Holdsworth
  Petrina Alexandra Holdsworth born in the UK in 1952 is an English politician, formerly National Chairman of the United Kingdom Independence Party .She is married with one son and two step-daughters....
  
  .

• David Campbell-Bannerman
  David Campbell-Bannerman
  David Campbell Bannerman is a Member of the European Parliament for East of England for the Conservative Party, having sat for the United Kingdom Independence Party until 24 May 2011...
  
   was a former Conservative Party councillor and former Chairman of the Bow Group
  Bow Group
  The Bow Group is one of the oldest think tanks in the United Kingdom. Taking its name from the Bow area of London where it first met, it was founded in 1951...
  
  , who had joined UKIP in 2002, and became its Chairman in early 2006. He also called for the party to broaden its policies, and wanted to focus on democracy and freedom from government interference. If elected, he wanted to work alongside Farage, who he hoped would remain the party's leader in the European Parliament.

• David Noakes, a computer consultant, called for the party to strengthen its focus on anti-EU campaigning. He stressed his belief that the European Union
  European Union
  The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
  
   was equivalent to a police state
  Police state
  A police state is one in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic and political life of the population...
  
  . He called for co-operation with trade union
  Trade union
  A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
  
  s to organise an anti-EU general strike and for creating a permanent protest outside the British Houses of Parliament
  Palace of Westminster
  The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
  
   with a van broadcasting the party's message.

Result

Farage was elected, with 44% of the votes cast.

Candidate	Votes	% share
Nigel Farage Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage MEP , a position he previously held from September 2006 to November 2009. He is a current Member of the European Parliament for South East England and co-chairs the Eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group....	3,329	44.0
Richard Suchorzewski	1,782	23.5
David Campbell-Bannerman David Campbell-Bannerman David Campbell Bannerman is a Member of the European Parliament for East of England for the Conservative Party, having sat for the United Kingdom Independence Party until 24 May 2011...	1,443	19.1
David Noakes	851	11.2
Spoiled votes	169	2.2
Turnout Voter turnout Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...	7,574