London mayor: Boris Johnson wins second term by tight margin

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

5 May 2012 Last updated at 00:35 GMT

Boris Johnson has won a second term as London mayor, beating Labour rival Ken Livingstone by 3%, after a far closer contest than expected.

Mr Johnson won on second preference votes after failing to gain more than 50% in the first round.

He bucked the national trend after heavy Tory losses elsewhere.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17946742

[T_i_B]

1. Not suprised Boris won...

It seemed to me that Labour ran Livingstone as they couldn't find any decent other candidates.

The London press was (just like last time) very partisan in Johnson's favour.

Outside of the London mayoral contest the Tories did not have a good night, and with the referendums on the subject of elected mayors, only Bristol opted for an elected Mayor.

Doncaster voted to keep the position, although the current mayor of Doncaster is a far-right useless waste of space. However, Doncaster's political problems go much deeper then the position of elected Mayor.