In his victory speech, Khan promises to “build bridges” and create jobs as British capital emerges from the pandemic.
Sadiq Khan was re-elected mayor of London, in a tighter-than-expected race, giving the opposition Labor Party a boost after a series of disappointing results in Thursday’s local election.
Khan, who became the first Muslim to rule a major Western capital after his victory in 2016, won 55.2% of the vote against 44.8% for Shaun Bailey, the ruling Conservative Party’s candidate.
The turnout was 42%, lower than in the previous elections in 2016.
“I am deeply touched by the confidence Londoners have placed in me to continue to lead the world’s largest city,” said Khan, who has focused his campaign on creating jobs in the city of nine million. inhabitants.
The 50-year-old said his second term would focus on “building bridges between different communities” and between town hall and government.
He said he wanted to “ensure that London can play its part in a national recovery” and “build a greener and more equal future” for the British capital.
Khan has made a name for himself as a vocal critic of Brexit and successive Tory prime ministers, including Boris Johnson, his predecessor as mayor – as well as a feud with former US President Donald Trump.
The two were embroiled in an extraordinary war of words after Khan criticized Trump’s controversial travel ban for people from certain Muslim countries.
Khan’s re-election comes amid a string of deadly results for Labor in local elections in his former centers in central and northern England, which followed a disastrous performance in the 2019 national vote.
While Johnson has enjoyed wide success elsewhere in England, the opposition party has become increasingly dominant in London.
Analysts attribute this to the city’s younger, more ethnically diverse and more pro-European population, who, unlike most of England, overwhelmingly opposed Brexit.
In his victory speech, Khan spoke of his humble origins, having grown up in social housing in an ethnically mixed residential area in south London.
“I grew up in a municipal estate, a working class boy, a child of immigrants, but now I am the mayor of London,” he said, describing himself as “a Londoner from start to finish” .
