Mayor of London

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The Mayor of London is the elected Mayor of London , England . He is the executive part of the Greater London Authority formed from himself and the London Assembly designated for his control . His responsibilities include budgeting and strategic planning of some government tasks in the Greater London area . These include u. a. Traffic , police , fire brigade , rescue services and business development . The office of Mayor of London is not to be confused with that of Lord Mayor of London ; the latter title has grown historically and today has only a ceremonial meaning.

This office is based on the Greater London Authority Act 1999 , which was passed by the British Parliament after a referendum held on May 7, 1998 in the future area of ​​application . With a low turnout of 34.1%, 72% of those who voted had spoken out in favor of the law.

The Mayor of London is elected directly by the people every four years. London played a pioneering role in this regard, and other cities in the UK have since followed suit.

Mayor of London elections

Electoral process

Anyone wishing to run as a candidate for mayor must first deposit £ 10,000 . Only candidates who receive more than 5% of the total vote will get the money back.

The election takes place after the supplementary vote . Each voter has one vote for a first and a second preference. First, the first preference votes are counted. If no candidate gets more than half of the votes, all candidates except for the first two will be eliminated. For the eliminated candidates, the votes of the second preference are evaluated and, if they were cast for one of the two remaining candidates, they are added to the votes of the first preference. The candidate who has achieved the highest total from the votes of first and second preference added together is elected.

As is common with run-off voting systems, there is also the problem of negative voting weight . The voting process is similar to Instant Runoff Voting (abbreviated to IRV), but uses only two preferences, which can lead to the fact that, unlike in the case of the IRV, some of the votes cast are no longer counted at the end: All ballots with first and second preference eliminated, fall out of the count, while they would be evaluated with further preferences in the IRV. In the 2012 election, 346,626 first votes were eliminated, but only 185,235 second votes were included in the final result. On the other hand, the right to vote ensures that one of the two candidates with the highest number of first preference votes is elected, which is seen by some as an advantage, while with instant runoff voting a subordinate candidate can be successful with the first preference votes only came 3rd or one of the following places.

Election 2000

The first election took place on May 4, 2000 and was won by Ken Livingstone . His choice was very controversial. After he was not nominated by the Labor Party , he ran for independence and was expelled from the party. The Conservative Party had to withdraw its candidate Jeffrey Archer after he was charged (and later convicted) with perjury . The turnout was 34%.

Majorities by constituency:
Ken Livingstone (Independent) Steve Norris (Conservative)


candidate Political party Voices
1st preference
in % Votes
2nd preference
in % total in %
Ken Livingstone Independently 667,877 39.0 178,809 12.6 776.427 57.9
Steve Norris Conservative party 464.434 27.1 188.041 13.2 564.137 42.1
Frank Dobson Labor Party 223,984 13.1 228.095 16.6 - -
Susan Kramer Liberal Democrats 203,452 11.9 404.815 28.5 - -
Others - 154,515 8.9 421.214 29.7 - -

Election 2004

In the second election on June 10, 2004 Livingstone was re-elected, but this time as an official Labor candidate. The turnout was 36.9%.

Majorities by constituency: Ken Livingstone (Labor) Steve Norris (Conservative)


candidate Political party Voices
1st preference
in % Votes
2nd preference
in % total in %
Ken Livingstone Labor Party 685,541 35.7 250,517 13.0 828.380 55.4
Steve Norris Conservative party 542.423 28.2 222,559 11.6 667.178 44.6
Simon Hughes Liberal Democrats 284,645 14.8 465.704 24.3 - -
Frank Maloney UKIP 115,565 6.0 193.157 10.0 - -
Others - 235.397 12.2 459.506 24.0 - -

2008 election

In the third election on May 1, 2008, the Conservative Boris Johnson replaced Livingstone, who was running for another term. The turnout was 45.3%.

Majorities by constituency: Boris Johnson (Conservative) Ken Livingstone (Labor)


candidate Political party Voices
1st preference
in % Votes
2nd preference
total in %
Boris Johnson Conservative party 1,043,761 42.48 124,977 1,168,738 53.2
Ken Livingstone Labor Party 893.877 36.38 135.089 1,028,966 46.8
Brian Paddick Liberal Democrats 236,685 9.63 - - -
Siân Berry Green party 77.374 3.15 - - -
Richard Barnbrook British National Party 69.710 2.84 - - -
Others - 94,551 3.85 - - -

Election 2012

In the fourth election on May 3, 2012, incumbent Boris Johnson was confirmed for a further term. The turnout was 38%.

Majorities by constituency: Boris Johnson (Conservative) Ken Livingstone (Labor)


candidate Political party Voices
1st preference
in % Votes
2nd preference
total in %
Boris Johnson Conservative party 971.931 44.01 82,880 1,054,811 51.53
Ken Livingstone Labor Party 889.918 40.30 102.355 992.273 48.47
Jenny Jones Green party 98.913 4.48 - - -
Brian Paddick Liberal Democrats 91,774 4.16 - - -
Siobhan Benita Independently 83.914 3.80 - - -
Lawrence Webb UK Independence Party 43,274 1.96 - - -
Carlos Cortiglia British National Party 28,751 1.30 - - -

Election 2016

The election took place on May 5, 2016. The Labor Party candidate was Sadiq Khan and the Conservative candidate was Zac Goldsmith . The Liberal Democrats nominated their parliamentary group leader in the London assembly, Caroline Pidgeon . Siân Berry , who ran in 2008, was named by the Greens as a candidate. The turnout was 45.3%.

Majorities by constituency: Sadiq Khan (Labor) Zac Goldsmith (Conservatives)


candidate Political party Voices
1st preference
in % Votes
2nd preference
total in %
Sadiq Khan Labor Party 1,150,579 44.2 161,427 1.310.143 56.8
Zac Goldsmith Conservative party 910.941 35.0 84,859 994.614 43.2
Siân Berry Green party 152.027 5.8 - - -
Caroline Pidgeon Liberal Democrats 121.051 4.7 - - -
Peter Whittle UK Independence Party 94,425 3.6 - - -
Sophie Walker Women's Equality 51,841 2.0 - - -
George Galloway Respect party 36,357 1.4 - - -
Paul Golding Britain First 31,257 1.2 - - -
Lee Harris Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol 20,714 0.8 - - -
David Furness British National Party 13,362 0.5 - - -
Prince Zylinski More independent 13,057 0.5 - - -
Ankit Love One love party 4,959 0.2 - - -

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. London and local elections 2000. BBC News, accessed May 7, 2016 .
  2. ^ Full London overview. BBC News, 2004, accessed May 7, 2016 .
  3. London mayoral election 2008. BBC News, 2008, accessed May 7, 2016 .
  4. Vote 2012. 2012, accessed on May 7, 2016 (English).
  5. London Elections 2016. BBC News, May 6, 2016, accessed May 6, 2016 .