Pro-EU candidate Sarah Olney on Friday Dec 02,2016won a parliamentary by-election in the posh London suburb of Richmond, ousting the pro-Brexit incumbent Zac Goldsmith in what will be seen as a blow for the British government.
The Liberal Democrat candidate took 49.68 percent of the votes while runner-up Goldsmith had 45.15 percent, according to figures announced by local mayor David Linnette.
The poll had been widely seen as a mini-referendum on Brexit in a pro-European Union heartland, with locals turning out to support the Lib Dem centrist party that wants a second referendum on EU membership.
Following her victory, Olney vowed to fight against Brexit in parliament.
"There's been a leave vote in the referendum, but I still passionately believe that remaining in the EU is best for Britain," she told
The Richmond election was sparked when Goldsmith quit as an MP in the ruling Conservative Party after the government backed expanding the nearby Heathrow Airport, vowing to stand for re-election as an independent.
The outcome will come as a shock for Goldsmith, who was re-elected in the 2015 general election with a 23,000 majority.
"This by-election that we just had was not a political calculation, it was a promise that I made and it was a promise that I kept," he said after the results.
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