Labour's Sadiq Khan re-elected London mayor
Sadiq Khan won re-election for a second term as London mayor on Saturday, beating Conservative rival Shaun Bailey. Khan, first elected in 2016, won with just over 1.2 million votes in a closer than anticipated victory over Bailey, who gained 977,601 votes in Thursday's poll.
LONDON, MAY 9: Sadiq Khan was
re-elected London Mayor on Saturday as had been widely expected, providing some
joy to the opposition Labour Party which has suffered a series of disappointing
results in other local elections.
Khan, who became the first Muslim
to head a major Western capital after his victory in 2016, saw off his main
challenger, Shaun Bailey, the candidate from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's
Conservative Party.
He won by 55.2% to Bailey's 44.8%
in a result which had been widely predicted, although his winning margin was
smaller than his victory five years ago.
"I am deeply humbled by the
trust Londoners have placed in me to continue leading the greatest city on
earth," Khan said, who focused his campaign on creating jobs and boosting
London's tourism economy.
"I promise to strain every
sinew to help build a better and brighter future for London after the dark days
of the pandemic."
Khan, a former member of
parliament who replaced Johnson as leader of the British capital with a
population of almost nine million people, has faced criticism over rising
violent crime in the capital, particularly stabbings involving teenagers.
His record on the issue and other
security issues led to a series of angry Twitter spats with former U.S.
President Donald Trump.
Khan's success comes after a
bruising set of results for Labour in local elections in its former heartlands
in central and northern England - known as the party's "Red Wall" -
which followed a disastrous performance in the 2019 national vote.
While Johnson has enjoyed wide
success elsewhere in England, the opposition party has become increasingly dominant
in the British capital.
Analysts attribute this to the city's younger, more ethnically-diverse and more pro-European Union population, which unlike most of England, overwhelmingly opposed Brexit.
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COURTESY Anews
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