By KUNA,
London : Boris Johnson has been elected Mayor of London, capping a catastrophic day for Labour in the local elections.
The main opposition Conservative candidate seized City Hall from Labour’s two-term incumbent Ken Livingstone with the opposition Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick in third place.
Johnson polled 1,168,738 votes to Livingstone’s 1,028,966, electoral officials said. After second preferences were allocated, Johnson achieved around 53 percent to Livingstone’s 47 percent, they added.
The result heaped further pressure on British Prime Minister Gordon Brown after his party plunged to its worst council election results in four decades. Johnson is the first Conservative mayor since the post was created and comes in on a wave of record voting numbers.
At 45 percent of those registered, turnout was one-fifth up on 2004.
This is the first time more than two million people have voted in the mayoral contest.
Johnson’s win was delivered in part by London’s outer boroughs, where the Conservative share was up in some areas by as much as 12 percent.
Livingstone’s vote was also up in many Labour areas, but not by enough.
Many commentators dismissed Johnson as a joke when the idea of his candidacy was first mooted, but his pledges, among them to tackle crime on public transport and not to introduce a 25 pounds congestion charge on higher-emission vehicles, proved popular.
Livingstone proved unable to buck the national trend and suffered from a string of negative headlines and allegations of sleaze (corruption).
Johnson’s team confirmed he would stand down as an MP as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the results of the local elections in England and Wales proved disastrous for the Labour party with the loss of over 200 seats and a massive swing towards the opposition Conservatives.
Brown has admitted that the Government has made mistakes and said it will listen to voters.
He has promised to launch a series of new initiatives to regain the momentum for the Labor party.
However, opponents to Brown from within his party said that his future is questioned after the massive defeat.
But Labour party sources said it is highly unlikely that any move would be made against Brown or that he would walk voluntarily.
It has never been Labours practice to treat its leaders cruelly even if they suffer a loss of popularity, the commentators added.