Johnson ousts Livingstone in London mayoral election

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Boris Johnson has been declared the winner of London's mayoral election. The Daily Telegraph called the victory overwhelming, given how close recent opinion polls had been. Results were delayed by record turnout.

Johnson thanked his family and party activists for helping him win what he termed a "marathon election." The mayor-elect also paid tribute to Livingstone by saying the incumbent had the "thanks and admiration of millions of Londoners" for his years of service as mayor.

The people of the United Kingdom's capital city of London voted yesterday in mayoral elections.

In the London elections voters chose both their first and second preference for Mayor of London. The incumbent mayor is Ken Livingstone.

Many polls were carried out before the election. One of the earliest, carried out by YouGov and the London Policy Institute showed a clear lead for Livingstone. A poll carried out near the end of 2007, however, showed that Livingstone was only one percentage point clear of Boris Johnson.

More recent polls, including one carried out by YouGov for Evening Standard showed a narrow lead for Johnson. Other polls, however, like the one taken for UNISON continued to show a clear lead for Livingstone.

Below are the latest results:

London Mayoral Election 2008 - ResultsNameParty1st preferenceSecond preferenceRichard BarnbrookBritish National Party69,710Gerard BattenUnited Kingdom Independence Party22,422Siân BerryGreen Party of England and Wales77,374Alan CraigChristian Peoples Alliance39,249 Lindsey GermanLeft List16,796Boris JohnsonConservative Party 1,043,761124,977Ken LivingstoneLabour Party 893,877135,089Winston McKenzieIndependent5,389Matt O'ConnorEnglish Democrats Party10,695Brian PaddickLiberal Democrats236,685