Johnson ousts Livingstone in London mayoral election

Friday, May 2, 2008

Candidates
Boris Johnson
Ken Livingstone
Sian Berry
Winston McKenzie
Matt O'Connor
Brian Paddick
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Boris Johnson has been declared the winner of London's mayoral election. The Daily Telegraph called the victory overwhelming, given how close recent opinion polls had been. Results were delayed by record turnout.

Johnson thanked his family and party activists for helping him win what he termed a "marathon election." The mayor-elect also paid tribute to Livingstone by saying the incumbent had the "thanks and admiration of millions of Londoners" for his years of service as mayor.

The people of the United Kingdom's capital city of London voted yesterday in mayoral elections.

In the London elections voters chose both their first and second preference for Mayor of London. The incumbent mayor is Ken Livingstone.

Many polls were carried out before the election. One of the earliest, carried out by YouGov and the London Policy Institute showed a clear lead for Livingstone. A poll carried out near the end of 2007, however, showed that Livingstone was only one percentage point clear of Boris Johnson.

More recent polls, including one carried out by YouGov for Evening Standard showed a narrow lead for Johnson. Other polls, however, like the one taken for UNISON continued to show a clear lead for Livingstone.

Below are the latest results:

London Mayoral Election 2008 - Results
Name Party 1st preference Second preference
Richard Barnbrook British National Party 69,710
Gerard Batten United Kingdom Independence Party 22,422
Siân Berry Green Party of England and Wales 77,374
Alan Craig Christian Peoples Alliance 39,249
Lindsey German Left List 16,796
Boris Johnson Conservative Party 1,043,761 124,977
Ken Livingstone Labour Party 893,877 135,089
Winston McKenzie Independent 5,389
Matt O'Connor English Democrats Party 10,695
Brian Paddick Liberal Democrats 236,685


Sources

 
Wikipedia
Wikipedia has more about this subject:
  • London Elects - the official site of London Elects, the independent body in charge of organizing the election of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly