How does the voting system work?

The election used a supplementary voting system, in which voters express a first and a second preference of candidates.

• If a candidate receives over 50% of the first preference vote the candidate wins.
• If no candidate receives an overall majority, i.e., over 50% of first preference votes, the top two candidates proceed to a second round and all other candidates are eliminated.
• The first preference votes for the remaining two candidates stand in the final count.
• Voters’ ballots whose first and second preference candidates are eliminated are discarded.
• Voters whose first preference candidates have been eliminated and whose second preference candidate is in the top two have their second preference votes added to the count.

This means that the winning candidate has the support of a majority of voters who expressed a preference among the top two.

Who won?

Sadiq Khan, the Labour candidate won by a significant margin, with Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith coming in second place. (See the full breakdown of results)

As the first results were announced, several Conservative Party politicians denounced Zac Goldsmith’s campaign, while some columnists described it as “racist”. (Read his article: Forgive and forget Zac Goldsmith’s racist campaign? No chance!)

Khan’s win was described as a highlight on for Labour on a day in which the party had lost 19 councillors in the local elections and fallen to third place behind the Conservatives in the elections to the Scottish parliament. However, in the subsequent days, Khan distanced himself from the Labour leader’s election strategy, amidst rumours of yet another party rift.

In his victory speech, Khan said that his victory represented a victory for “hope over fear”. Internationally and in the UK, many responses focused on Khan’s election as the first Muslim mayor of a European capital, something that overlooked the election of  Ahmed Aboutaleb in Rotterdam in 2008.

How did the other contenders do?

Green Party candidate Sian Berry, who finished third ahead of Pidgeon and Whittle, received the largest number of second preference votes.But perhaps what was the most significant of the other contenders was Sophie Walker’s 2.0% of the vote which has since been reported positively in what was the Women’s Equality Party’s first ever mayoral election they contested. By contrast former MP George Galloway’s 1.2% of the vote was seen as something of a humiliation.

Further Reading

London Mayoral Election; The contenders

How Sadiq Khan won the London mayoral election

London mayor; Results by neighbourhood

Election results 2016