Karim El-Bar
09 May 2021•Update: 09 May 2021
LONDON
Sadiq Khan won a second term as London mayor on Saturday.
He was expected to win by a landslide but the result was much closer than expected.
Khan won 1,206,034 votes, 55.2%. Rival Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey won 977,601 votes, or 44.8%. Turnout was 42.2%.
His victory comes as votes continue to be counted elsewhere after polls were held earlier this week.
The “Super Thursday” elections were for local councils across the UK as well as Welsh and Scottish parliamentary elections, mayoral elections in England, and the by-election in Hartlepool.
The elections have proved difficult for the main opposition, the center-left Labour Party that has lost seats to the incumbent center-right Conservative Party.
-Mixed mayoral results for Labour
Meanwhile, Labour's Andy Burnham won re-election as Greater Manchester mayor. He took an impressive 69% of the vote.
Burnham previously ran for Labour Party leader in 2010 and 2015 but lost on both occasions.
His dominant performance in Thursday's election amid wider Labour difficulties have reignited discussion about him standing again in the future.
"In the distant future, if the party were ever to feel it needed me, well I'm here and they should get in touch," he told Sky News.
But he played down expectations of any leadership bid in the near future. "I've got the best job in the world in the best city region in the world," he said.
In Liverpool, Steve Rotheram was re-elected as Liverpool City Region mayor with 58% of the vote.
In the West Midlands, Conservative incumbent Andy Street won re-election as mayor in a part of England that Labour was hoping to make gain.
Labour's Joanne Anderson was elected Liverpool city mayor on Friday, becoming the first black woman to lead a major British city. She won 59% of the vote.
The Conservative incumbent in the northern Tees Valley, Ben Houchen, also won re-election as mayor with 73% of the vote, which was another blow to Labour in a part of England that was considered their heartland.
