Britain's anti-EU UKIP party won its second seat in parliament today, defeating Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives in a by-election six months before what is shaping up to be a closely-fought national vote.

Mark Reckless, the candidate for UKIP, the UK Independence Party, was a Conservative lawmaker until he defected in September. He won 16,867 votes or just over 42 percent of the vote in the south-eastern English constituency of Rochester and Strood.

The Conservative candidate came second with 13,947 votes. Labour came third with 6,713 votes. The overall turnout was 50.67 percent.

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