Mark Oaten (born 1964) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom, and member of Parliament for Winchester. He serves as the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary.

He won the seat in the 1997 election with a majority of 2, but his election was later declared void by the Election Court. The defeated Conservative former MP Gerry Malone successfully challenged the election because of an established precedent that it was void if the decision not to count ballot papers which had not been properly stamped would have affected the result.

This decision caused a byelection in the constituency at which Malone fought to recapture his seat. However, many felt that Malone had behaved as a 'poor loser' and Oaten won with a majority of 21,556, gaining 68% of the vote. He held the seat the 2001 election, with a majority of 9,634 (with a 54.6% share of the vote).

Before entering Parliament, he had been a councillor, and was leader of the SDP group on Watford District Council . He stood for Watford at the 1992 election, and polled 10,231 votes, coming third.

See also

• Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet

External links

• Mark Oaten MP official site
• Guardian Politics Ask Aristotle - Mark Oaten
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Mark Oaten