John Biggs has been elected Tower Hamlets Mayor with a 6,000 majority in yesterday’s by-election. Biggs had a lead of 1,500 over his nearest rival, independent Rabina Khan, in first preferences before extending his lead in the second round.
Biggs was beaten in last year’s election by Lutfur Rahman, in a result that was overturned due to his rival’s electoral improprieties. He has been a London Assembly Member since 2000.
The Labour candidate received 27,255 votes in the first round, compared to Khan’s 25,763. The first round voteshare was:
Labour 39.1%, Rabina Khan 37.0%, Conservative 8.5%, Green 3.8%, Lib Dem 3.1%, UKIP 2.5%, Other 5.9%
As no candidate had achieved 50% of the vote, all but the top two candidates were knocked out. After second preferences had been redistributed, Biggs was on 32,754 votes while Khan was on 26,384, giving Labour a majority of 6,370.
You can see the full LabourList coverage of the night as it unfolded on our liveblog.
UPDATE: You can see a short clip of Biggs’ acceptance speech here, where he talks about the importance of moving past the events of the past couple of years for the good of the borough:
John Biggs making his winning speech, a year late, better late than never. Mayor Biggs pic.twitter.com/d72FkzyxNQ
— Cllr Tarik Khan (@Tarikahmedkhan) June 12, 2015
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