Khan elected London Mayor for second term

SADIQ Khan has been re-elected mayor of London, in a tighter-than-expected race, providing a boost to the opposition Labour Party after a series of disappointing results.

  Khan, who became the first Muslim to head a major Western capital after his victory in 2016, won 55.2 percent of the vote compared with 44.8 percent for Shaun Bailey, the candidate from the ruling Conservative party.

  Turnout was 42 percent, lower than at the previous election in 2016.

  Khan, who focused his campaign on creating jobs in the city of nine million, said, “I am deeply humbled by the trust Londoners have placed in me to continue leading the greatest city on earth”.

  The 50-year-old also promised that his second term would be focused on “building bridges between the different communities” and between city hall and the government and “to ensure London can play its part in a national recovery,” build a brighter greener and more equal future” for the UK capital.

  Khan has made a name for himself as a vocal critic of Brexit and of successive Conservative prime ministers, including Boris Johnson, his predecessor as mayor as well as for a feud with former US President Donald Trump.

  The two men became embroiled in an extraordinary war of words after Khan criticised Trump’s controversial travel ban on people from certain Muslim countries.