Nominations close for OldE & Sad

Nominations closed yesterday for the Oldham East & Saddleworth by-election and there were a couple of surprises. Despite media reports the British Nationalist Party leader Nick Griffin is not on the ballot paper. Instead they have selected local activist Derek Adams who polled 7.2% in the nearby Blackley & Broughton constituency at the General Election. Also, the rumoured National Front candidacy didn't materialise which could have something to do with Griffin staying away. In other news; the Church of the Militant Elvis Party's leader David Bishop is standing as a Bus-Pass Elvis Party candidate. Here is a full list of candidates for the contest:

Candidate

Debbie Abrahams (LAB)

Derek Adams (BNP)

Kashif Ali (CON)

Peter Allen (GRN)

David Bishop (Bus-Pass Elvis P.)

Howling Laud Hope (OMRL)

Loz Kaye (Pirate P.)

Stephen Morris (ED)

Paul Nuttal (UKIP)

Elwyn Watkins (LD)

Today was also the last day for postal vote applications. Considering the weather and the time of year postal votes could well play a huge part in this by-election. Labour and the Liberal Democrats are well aware of this and they have been encouraging their supporters to sign up for postal votes. In many ways the next three weeks will be a bit of an anti-climax. Barring a gaffe all the fault lines are set. Tuition fees are done for now and Debbie Abrahams is going to struggle to compete with Elwyn Watkins for name recognition. There may be a few voters annoyed with the Liberal Democrats for calling the election so soon after Christmas, but equally others will be annoyed that Labour caused the by-election in the first place. Despite all of that I'm sure there will be quite a few posts about this by-election in the following month! Here we're planning to look at the previous results in the constituency and the local government picture, as well as following any developments in the contest in the New Year.