Nigel Farage holds Clacton seat in by-election as Count Binface achieves surprise second place

Right-wing political leader Nigel Farage has comfortably held on to the seat of Clacton, but the result was not quite the victory he had hoped for.

The anti-immigration Reform UK leader won 22,239 votes, or 62.8 per cent, securing a second term after triggering the by-election himself.

But the real surprise was comedian Count Binface, who claimed 9,455 votes, or 26.7 per cent — by far his strongest result in a parliamentary election.

The by-election was triggered after Mr Farage resigned from parliament last month amid a parliamentary investigation into whether he should have declared gifts from wealthy backers.

With Britain's major parties choosing to sit out the contest, which they called a self-serving stunt, Mr Farage had been hoping to turn the vote into a show of strength against what he cast as an establishment campaign against him.

Instead, the contest produced a bizarre two-way race, with a record 34 candidates on the ballot and the satirical Count Binface taking more than one in four votes.

Here's who came out on top and who didn't.

Best of the rest

After Mr Farage and Count Binface, there was a very long drop.

The next four candidates collectively received just 1,642 votes.

The rest and the very bottom

The remaining 28 candidates each received fewer than 300 votes.

Australian-born candidate Daniel Pocock received just 16 votes, while the three Monster Raving Loony Party candidates collectively managed 61.

At the bottom of the pile were independents Woke Trump Carzee, with eight votes, and Glenn Cummings, with seven.

With 34 candidates competing, the 90-centimetre-long ballot may have been crowded, but the result was anything but close.