The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) won its first parliamentary seat in a by-election, Thursday.

Douglas Carswell MP (Wikipedia)

SEE MORE: UKIP Controversies

Douglas Carswell won the seat of Clacton in Essex, beating the center-right Conservative candidate with a majority of 12,404 votes. 

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Carswell had held the seat for the Conservative party before resigning so that he could defect to UKIP.

In another by-election, center-left Labour retained the Heywood and Middleton seat of Greater Manchester, beating UKIP by only 617 votes.