Labour has retained the seat of Middlesbrough following a parliamentary by-election triggered by the death of the town's MP.
Since then, UKIP's fortunes have improved and it recorded its best performance in a parliamentary by-election in Rotherham in December.
The critics point to a recent parliamentary by-election in a safe seat, which the UMP held by only the thinnest of threads.
It is expected that the parliamentary by-election will be held on the same day, with an official announcement likely soon from the Commons.
BBC: NEWS | UK | Wales | South East Wales | MP's widow to fight assembly seat
Waverley councillor Diane James, who sits as an independent member, stood for UKIP in the Eastleigh Parliamentary by-election in Southampton earlier this month.
And Mr Blair's mind may be focused on the issue by defeat in February 3rd's parliamentary by-election in Ceredigion, a rural Welsh constituency held by Plaid.
The far-right National Front also fared well in France , winning nearly 40% of the vote in the first round of a parliamentary by-election in the southern city of Toulon.
His victory is the first time an independent or smaller party candidate has won a parliamentary by-election from another party in Britain since March 1973, when Dick Taverne won the Lincoln by-election (taking it from Labour).
Details of the change, announced Wednesday in the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper, remain unclear, including the exact value of the Myanmar kyat when it is floated Sunday, which also is the day of a key parliamentary by-election contested by famed dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.
This will be only the fifth occasion since the 1945 general election when the Lib Dems, or their predecessors the Liberals, have defended a parliamentary seat in a by-election.
The minor parties' success follows upon a record score in the 2001 general election as well as a string of saved deposits in parliamentary by-elections.
ECONOMIST: Local election results: A plague on all your houses | The
Stephen Doughty, who was elected MP for Cardiff South and Penarth in a by-election last November, has been appointed (unpaid) parliamentary private secretary to shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rachel Reeves.
Worries about Ukrainian press freedom emerged during the run-up to the country's parliamentary election in March, when one opposition newspaper folded after a boycott by state-owned printers, and the country's only decent television news programme was mysteriously taken off the air.
It boycotted parliamentary elections in 2010 because of election laws it said were unfair, but won 43 seats in by-elections in 2012, including one for Aung San Suu Kyi, as a reform process introduced by the nominally civilian administration of President Thein Sein gathered pace.
It boycotted parliamentary polls in 2010 because of election laws it said were unfair, but won 43 seats in by-elections in 2012, including one for Aung San Suu Kyi, as a reform process introduced by the nominally civilian administration of President Thein Sein gathered pace.
Were Sunday's by-election results repeated at the national level, the USDP would be annihilated, reduced to a parliamentary rump of its unelected military MPs.
Although theoretically due to exit politics after the election, the generals have rejected parliamentary demands to dismiss the army-appointed interim cabinet, led by a grey veteran of Mr Mubarak's governments.
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