PRESTON was going to the polls today (Thursday) to elect a new MP to replace the late Audrey Wise who had won the seat in the May election of 1997.

There were five candidates in that election and Mrs Wise (Labour Party) polled 29,220 votes in a turnout of 66%. In second place then was Conservative candidate Paul Stephen Gray with 10,540 votes and, in third place, was Bill Chadwick (Liberal Democrat) with 7,045 votes.

Bill Chadwick was again trying to win the seat for the Lib-Dems and he was up against Graham O'Hare (Conservative) and Mark Phillip Hendrick (Labour) as well as six other hopefuls: Gregory Ronald Beaman (UK Independence Party), Terence Cartwright (Lancashire Socialist Alliance, Labour Independent), David Oswald Franklin-Braid (Battle of Britain Christian Alliance Party), Peter Anthony Garrett (The Preston Alliance - Christian Peoples Alliance), Christian Michael Jackson (British National Party) and Richard John Merrick, the Green Party Candidate.

Preston has been a hot-bed of political activity in recent weeks with Government Ministers and Shadow Ministers (such as Ann Widdecombe, pictured with Graham O'Hare and Preston Citizen Editor Naomi Bunting) in town to support their candidates and talk about issues which they believe to be their strengths, while, of course, highlighting the supposed weaknesses of their principal opponents.

It's all been good knockabout fun but the usual hard edge to by-election campaigns has not been very much in evidence.

With Labour defending a majority of nearly 19,000 the Labour Party have hardly felt it necessary to wheel in a really colourful array of big-wigs, although Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott dropped in to lend his considerable weight to the event. For local party workers and election officials, however, it has been a hectic few weeks and last night, on the eve of voting, they were all preparing for one last big day of action.

More than 60 polling stations were being used spread over 12 wards from Preston Borough Council and three wards from South Ribble Borough Council.

Most action was expected at the Ribbleton Avenue Infant School which had 2000 potential electors; the smallest was a temporary station at the junction of London Road and Salmon Street where just 185 electors were entitled to vote. More than 70,000 people are on the current Register of Electors for Preston and candidates were united in their hope of a really big turn-out."It's important that everyone votes," was the general call, but the likelihood of anything approaching the last figure of 66% looked remote.

On Thursday night the action moved on to the Grand Hall at the Guild Hall in Lancaster Road to where the 63 ballot boxes were being taken.

It was expected that the Returning Officer, the Mayor of Preston, Councillor Joseph Hood, accompanied by the Acting Returning Officer, Chief Executive Jim Carr, would announce the result at about 12.30am.