London, May 9 (HNA) – Labor candidate Sadiq Khan has been reelected as the mayor of London in the 2021 United Kingdom local elections.
Commenting after his victory, the Labour mayor stated that he will “work for all Londoners,” and hopes to bring the city to a “better and brighter future” making it “fairer, safer, and greener.” Additionally, he added that he will work to “build bridges” between the government and city hall when it comes to the pandemic.
Khan won 1,206,034 first and second preference votes, edging out the 977,601 votes won by the Conservative Party candidate Shaun Bailey, a closer vote than analysts predicted and a smaller margin of victory for Khan when compared to the 2016 election.
Sadiq Khan won 55.2 percent of the popular vote, after entering a run-off with Mr Bailey when neither managed to secure a majority in the first round of voting.
The former MP became the first Muslim mayor of an EU capital city when he was elected to the role in 2016.
The Green Party’s Sian Berry came third, while the Liberal Democrats’ Luisa Porritt was fourth.
The Lib Dems lost their deposit, as Ms Porritt failed to win more than 5.0 percent of the vote.
Elsewhere on Saturday evening, Labour lost overall control of Durham County Council while the Tories continued to make inroads in their traditional heartlands.
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Mr Khan was seen as the favourite throughout the campaign, with some pollsters predicting he would win more than half of the first-round votes.
The 51-year-old failed to reach his record-setting vote total of 2016 but won with a 228,000-vote majority.
Mr Khan’s closest rival was Mr Bailey, who received 44.8 percent of the first and second-round votes, and increased the Conservative vote share by 1.6 percent.