It is quite extraordinary how Count Binface emerging as the main opponent to Nigel Farage in the Clacton by-election on August 13 has thrown politics and media coverage into a turmoil with people struggling to figure out how to respond.

There are those who positively hate Farage and are relishing the prospect of him having to campaign against someone who was known as a novelty candidate but in this election is emerging as a serious threat. This has resulted in his supporters angrily denouncing Binface’s candidacy as a stunt (which nobody denies) and accusing the mainstream political parties of being behind him, even though it is clear that their decision to boycott the election was because they saw Farage’s resignation as as a stunt and Binface stepping in to fill the vacuum and emerging as a serious candidate something that they had little to do with.

The media are also nonplussed. On the one hand, there are those who are enjoying the comedic aspects of the whole thing, allowing them to interview Binface on show after show, thus increasing his visibility even more.

Then there are others who are tut-tutting, saying that it makes a mockery of democracy. It is not clear why that claim makes any sense. We have an election in which candidates could freely contest and some have chosen to do so. One of them is a candidate in a space suit that has a trash bin on his head. But he has stood in many elections before. It is Farage who created this situation by resigning so he cannot blame anyone else for not contesting.

Here in Binface appearing on the BBC TV show Newsnight where the host was clearly in the tut-tut camp but the other panelists were not.

Although Farage remains the favorite to win, the odds of him winning are getting worse by the day. National opinion polls may not help much in anticipating the outcome of this election since the voters who actually live in Clacton may be torn. Even if they hate Farege and would happily vote for any of the major political parties, they may hesitate to vote to elect Binface as their MP for fear of having their constituency seen as a joke and thus may sit it out. That may the biggest factor favoring Farage.