Sadiq Khan, the two-term center-left mayor of London, is expected to become the first three-term mayor on Saturday by a wider margin than some of his supporters expected.
Khan, from the main opposition Labor Party, was originally elected in 2016 to become London’s first Muslim mayor and will now also become the first politician to be elected to three consecutive terms since the position was created in 2000.
With Labor holding a commanding lead in opinion polls ahead of the upcoming election, many analysts had expected Mr Khan to win comfortably in the left-leaning city, but some saw the possibility of an unexpected retrenchment. Running against Susan Hall, who represents the UK’s ruling Conservative Party.
That prospect quickly faded on Saturday, with Mr Khan’s party claiming victory and the BBC predicting he would be the winner as results in half of London showed Mr Khan doing better than he did at the last election in 2021 performance in.
“Sadiq Khan is absolutely the right candidate,” Labor leader Keir Starmer said. “He’s had two deliveries and I’m sure he’s got another.”
The vote joins other local and mayoral elections on Thursday in which the Conservatives, led by embattled Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, suffered a series of setbacks.
The system for electing London mayor has changed since Mr Khan was last re-elected in 2021, with the government also introducing new requirements for voters to show photo ID. Some analysts worry this could deter poorer and younger voters, where Labor tends to poll favorably.
With living standards squeezed and his powers as London mayor limited, Khan must work to convince Londoners that he is improving their lives. Opinion polls ahead of the vote showed him well ahead of his Conservative rivals, but narrower than the advantage his party enjoys in national surveys.
Ms Hall has campaigned to reduce coverage of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), an anti-pollution measure that charges some owners of older cars 12 pounds 50 pence (about $15.50) a day to drive.
While inner London is a Labor stronghold, the Conservatives generally poll much better in suburban areas of outer London, where a much higher proportion of households own a car. Last year, after Johnson quit parliament, the Conservatives won a special parliamentary election to replace him in Uxbridge, his outer London constituency, after campaigning against ULEZ.
A backlash from owners of used cars in the region has prompted a wider rethink within government about the costs of environmental policy.Shortly after the game at Uxbridge Mr Sunak announces weakening UK climate change targets.
Ms Hall also campaigned against Mr Khan’s record on fighting crime in the capital, despite an attack ad from her party showing people fleeing to safety. attract ridicule when it was discovered that the image used was not taken in London, but in 2017 at New York’s Penn Station.
After Ms Hall discovered her wallet was missing last year, Tell LBC Radio She believed it had been taken from her pocket on the London Underground and cited the incident as an example of how crime had spiraled out of control under Mr Khan. The wallet was later returned by a retired businessman who said he found it on a train seat and that it looked like it had been lost rather than stolen and discarded.
Ms Hall has also previously hinted that Notting Hill Carnival – West London’s famous annual Caribbean street event – could be criticized. May be relocated in the interest of public safety, and Social media posts that like the description Mr Khan has been dubbed “Londonstan’s high-nipple mayor”.
Mr Khan came under a more direct anti-Muslim attack from Lee Anderson. Lee Anderson, an MP who claimed Islamists had taken control of London because Mr Khan had “abandoned our capital”, was suspended. To his buddies. “
Anderson admitted his comments were “a bit clumsy” but refused to apologize and later joined the small right-wing party Reform Britain.
But former President Donald J. Trump became the London mayor’s most prominent critic, Have a grudge against him Since 2016, it has been working on issues such as immigration and terrorism. In 2019, after taking office as mayor speak out against During a state visit to the UK, the former president accused Mr Khan of being “obnoxious” to him while misspelling his name and mocking his figure.
“Kahn reminds me of our stupid and incompetent New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is also terrible at his job – only half his height,” Trump wrote on social media, citing another favorite The target – New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. New York.
Soon afterMr Trump also called London’s mayor “a disaster”, citing multiple stabbings in the British capital, and wrote on social media that London needed to replace Mr Khan as soon as possible.
Given Mr Trump’s unpopularity in Britain, the former president’s attacks are unlikely to damage Mr Khan.
