Barry Fairbrother
Although he appears in barely any of the novel, Barry is actually the most important character within it, because it is his untimely death that creates the vacancy on the town council that is referenced in the title. Barry is a dutiful councilman, in favor of retaining the crime-ridden council estate The Fields, primarily because this is where he comes from, and he believes that everyone there is capable of making something of themselves in the same way that he did. He had a particularly soft spot for a sixteen year old girl called Krystal Weedon whose mother is a prostitute and addicted to heroin.
Mary Fairbrother
Mary hates The Fields because she feels that it was preoccupying Barry's life, and she blames his death on the stress caused by trying to argue for its retention.
Howard Mollison
Father to Miles, who is running in the election to fill Barry's seat on the council, Howard leads the Parish Council and is also very vocal in his support of re-zoning The Fields so that Pagford can become safer. He owns a small grocery store, is morbidly obese, and is so stressed by the assertion that he has been having an affair with his business partner that he suffers a heart attack.
Miles Mollison
Miles is an attorney and runs to fill the vacant seat on the town council. He is similar to his father in his views on Pagford and what is best for the town. He is married to Samantha, whom he tends to neglect.
Samantha Mollison
Samantha is not at all excited by Howard's election victory primarily because she is experiencing a crisis of confidence in her marriage, and is not sure that she really wants to play the dutiful wife for the duration of his time on the council. She is a woman who is bored with her life, and wants something different.
Krystal Weedon
Krystal lives at The Fields. She dates Fats Wall, has a mother who is a prostitute and a heroin addict, and more often than not is the primary carer of her younger brother, Robbie. She is a rape victim, having been raped by her mother's drug dealer, and ultimately commits suicide.
TerriWeedon
Krystal's mother is a prostitute and a heroin addict, and also in many ways responsible for Krystal's rape, because she has brought her drug dealer into her daughter's life. She tries to detox and rehabilitate herself at Bellchapel, but fails, and ultimately relapses.
Colin Cubby Wall
Cubby is the school principal and considers Barry a close friend. He runs in the election to fill the vacant seat but his campaign is de-railed by a smear campaign that is orchestrated by his adopted son, Fats. He suffers from OCD, has night terrors and is a general bag of nerves, primarily because he is frightened that in the past he has molested a child, but has no actual definitive memory of doing so.
Stuart "Fats" Wall
The adopted son of Cubby and Tessa, Fats is Andrew's best friend and is extremely funny, which is why he is very popular. He is also a spiteful kid, and a bully. He is sleeping with Krystal Weedon but is partially culpable for causing Robbie Weedon's death. He seems to resent his adoptive parents and is not really very nice to them, but when Tessa tells him that his birth mother had him when she was just fourteen years old, after being raped by a family member, and that they took him in despite Cubby's ill health, he is filled with remorse and owns up to all of the postings on the council's hacked website.
Andrew Price
Andrew is Fats' best buddy and he is so obsessed with Gaia Bawden, who works at the grocery store owned by Howard Mollison, that he gets a Saturday job there so that he can spend time around her. He hates and his scared of his father in equal measure, and has no respect for his mother because she puts up with his father's abuse. He wants to de-rail his father's election campaign because he does not consider him fit for office.
Simon Price
Simon is abusive, verbally and physically, and he is always involved in something shady. His motive for standing for election is entirely so that he can receive bribes and payments from local businesses.
