1999 Leeds Central by-election

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English The Member of Parliament for Leeds Central, Rt. Hon. Derek Fatchett, (Labour) died suddenly on 9 May 1999. The Labour government rushed to organise for the by-election and moved the writ so that the election could be held on 10 June, the same day as elections to the European Parliament.

The shortlist for the Labour candidacy included the Chair of Leeds Central Constituency Labour Party, Maggie Giles-Hill, and Shahid Malik, but the selection went to Hilary Benn who had been Special Adviser to David Blunkett, then Secretary of State for Education and Employment. The Conservatives chose their general election candidate Edward Wild. The Liberal Democrats provided the strongest challenge and increased their vote by nearly 20%, but this was not enough to take the seat.

The campaign was subsumed with the European Parliament elections, and the result was an all-time low turnout for a by-election: at 19.9% it held the record for the lowest turnout in a UK parliamentary election since World War II, until surpassed in 2012 by the Manchester Central by-election.

Result

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

Leeds Central by-election, 1999

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Peter Wild	4,068	30.8
		Edward Wild	1,618	12.3
		David Blackburn	478	3.6
		Raymond Northgreaves	353	2.7
		Chris Hill	258	2.0
		Julian Fitzgerald	51	0.4
Majority			2,293	17.4
Turnout			13,187	19.9
	hold		Swing

General Election result, 1997

Template:Election box winning candidate with party link

General election 1997: Leeds Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Edward Wild	5,077	13.7
		David Freeman	4,164	11.3
		Philip Myers	1,042	2.8
		Michael Rix	656	1.8
		Chris Hill	304	0.8
Majority			20,689	55.9
Turnout			37,009	54.7
	hold		Swing