George Galloway, a British MP for the UK Respect Party, lost his seat in Parliament in Thursday's elections without even showing up to learn the results.
Galloway also is the founder and head of the British-based group Viva Palestina, which supports the terrorist organization Hamas. A Canadian judge is deciding whether a year-old ban placed on Galloway should be upheld. Egypt deported Galloway in January, and he was declared "persona non grata" by the Egyptian foreign ministry, barring him from entering the country again.
Galloway placed third in his re-election bid to Labour's Jim Fitzpatrick in Poplar and Limehouse, East London. Fitzpatrick won 18,679 votes, while Galloway received 8,160 votes.
Galloway expressed confidence a day earlier. "I expect to win and wipe Fitzpatrick into third." British political analysts seemed to have a better read, though, and anticipated his defeat. One wrote, "Galloway is unpopular with Islamist fundamentalists because he's trying to persuade Muslims to vote. And he's unpopular with the BNP [British National Party] crowd for the same reason. He was physically attacked in a punch-up three weeks ago."