As the capital awaits the final results to see who will be the Mayor of London, the assembly member for Lambeth & Southwark has been declared.
Labour has held the constituency, which is seen as a safe seat for them.
Marina Ahmad succeeds Florence Eshalomi, who became MP for Vauxhall in 2019.
Ahmad received 91,949 votes which was 49 per cent of the vote. The Greens Claire Sheppard came second with 36,933, 20 per cent of the vote. The Conservatives Hannah Ginnett was third with 30,855, 16 per cent of the vote. The remaining votes saw the Liberal Democrats get 11 per cent, the Reform UK candidate and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate both picked up just 2 per cent of the vote.
While a comfortable majority the Labour vote was down by nearly 5,000 votes (4,997) compared to the 2016 election. The Conservative vote was also down by nearly 4,000 votes (3,848). Only the Greens saw a shift upwards with over 11,000 more votes (11,140) compared to last time.
And according to the latest figures people in Southwark and Lambeth also voted for Sadiq Khan to stay on as mayor with 51 per cent of the vote. The per cent of the vote for the mayoral candidates in Lambeth & Southwark were as follows:
Lambeth & Southwark
Sadiq Khan – 51%
Shaun Bailey – 20%
Sian Berry -12%
Luisa Porritt – 5%
Laurence Fox – 2%
Count Binface – 1%
Southwark & Lambeth’s results were among seven constituencies declared last night, the others were –Bexley & Bromley, Brent & Harrow, Ealing & Hillingdon, Havering & Redbridge, West Central, and North East.
The remaining results are due to be announced today including Barnet & Camden, City & East, Croydon & Sutton, Enfield & Haringey, Greenwich & Lewisham, Merton & Wandsworth, and South West.
The final result could come as late as Sunday morning due to Covid precautions.
The mayor of London is elected on a Supplementary Vote system, where each voter can choose a first and second preference for mayor.
The First preference votes for the mayor saw as a very close race between Sadiq Khan and the Conservative’s Shaun Bailey. Khan picked up 487,104, 39 per cent of the vote and Bailey 462,837, 37 per cent of the vote. As neither candidate received 50 per cent of the first preference votes, all but the top two candidates have been eliminated, and counting of second preference is now under way.
And as some have found this a “confusing” ballot paper – it is being blamed for a record number of rejected ballots in the mayor of London election.
With only half the votes counted 56,358 first preference votes have been rejected – roughly 5 per cent of the total votes counted.
This year’s figure is just short of the current record for the highest number of rejected ballots in the 2004 mayoral election, when 56,874 first preference votes were rejected, roughly 3 per cent of the total votes that year.
Official figures show 47,091 votes were rejected this year because too many votes were cast.
This year saw a record-breaking twenty candidates stand to become mayor of London.