Hugo Swire re-elected MP for East Devon

Conservative Hugo Swire has been re-elected by 25,401 votes as the MP for East Devon – with a majority of 12,261. This is Hugo Swire’s fourth Parliamentary victory – he first became MP in June 2001, and was subsequently re-elected in May 2005 and May 2010. It is also his largest majority since 2001.

The parliamentary election results for East Devon were declared by the Acting Returning Officer, Mark Williams, at East Devon District Council’s offices at Knowle in Sidmouth at 7.15 a.m. today (Friday 8 May).

The turnout for the election was 71.7%, slightly down from 2010 when it was 72.6%. The number of ballot papers rejected was 217 and the number of ballot papers sent out was 54,934.

Mark Williams said: “This is the first time since 1979 that we have had three elections in one night. The reason the Government stopped this is that for rural areas such as East Devon, the sheer volume of ballot papers, which need to be verified and prepared for counting, causes a huge amount of work.

“We have had a turnout of 71.7%, which equates to over 100,000 voting slips that need to be processed thoroughly. My team has been working flat out to deliver an accurate result for East Devon and I am proud to say that they have done an excellent job. I would like to thank everyone who has helped make this General Election count such a success – we couldn’t have done it without you”.

The four other candidates contesting the seat were:

Claire Wright, Independent: 13,140; Andrew Chapman, UK Independence Party: 6,870; Stephen Race, Labour: 5,591; Stuart Mole, Liberal Democrat: 3,715.

Results for the 2010 Parliamentary elections for East Devon were:

Hugo Swire, Conservative: 25,662 (elected with a majority of 9,114); Paull Robathan, Liberal Democrat: 16,548; Gareth Manson, Labour: 5,721; Mike Amor, UKIP: 4,346; Sharon Pavey, Green: 815.