(Note: Hackney Independent Working Class Association (IWCA) are now known as Hackney Independent.)

Hackney IWCA candidates in Haggerston ward chalked up impressive results last night, narrowly missing out on a council seat. The full results were:

Total Turnout: 2269
Percentage Turnout: 32.15

Boff, Andrew The Conservative Party 435
Bright, Afolasade Oluyemidale Labour Party 802
Ellis, Alexander The Conservative Party 404
Rae, Benjamin Christie The Liberal Party 270
Sarikaya, Erdogan The Conservative Party 420
Sen, Nusret Independent 504
Sutton, Peter Independent Working Class Association 595
Taylor, Carl Independent Working Class Association 610
Thompson, Coral Christian Peoples Alliance 87
Tiyamiyu, Suraju-Deen Olatunde Labour Party 700
Young, David Labour Party 841

Candidate Peter Sutton stated “We are the official opposition to Labour in Haggerston and will use that position to put pressure on the Council to take action on crime and anti-social behaviour, to improve the repairs, cleaning and manageement of our estates and to resist any loss of community facilities in the Ward.

While Labour gained votes acros Hackney South – winning every seat in the constituency – the trend was bucked in Haggerston where they lost votes on their 1998 results. Labour are on course to lose Haggerston in 2006 or in any by-election before then.

We would like to thank everyone who voted for us, and there are a number of tenant and community leaders – you know who you are – who put themselves out to support our campaign.”

Elsewhere, IWCA candidates did remarkably well, winning a seat on Oxford’s Blackbird Leys estate and coming second to the Lib Dems in the Clerkenwell ward in Islington. Meanwhile in Havering, IWCA candidates averaged a massive 950 votes each but failed to win seats. It’s clear that the IWCA is starting to make a big impact on local politics and that’s something we’ll be continuing to do whether there are elections on or not.